


Winter's Baby

by larry_queen



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Ageplay, Angst, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, DDLG, Daddy Bucky, Daddy Steve, F/M, Fluff, Little, Little Girl - Freeform, Little Space, Multi, Not polyamory, Swearing, kinda cannon, not a threesome, not cannon, oh well, probably no smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:14:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 34,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23904469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/larry_queen/pseuds/larry_queen
Summary: Kennedy Acker is a badass Avenger and Steve Roger's little girl. When they bring Bucky back from Bucharest, some things in Kennedy's life change.A/N: This takes place during/after CA:CW. Let's just all pretend Bucky came back from Bucharest and nothing else happened. He moves into Avengers Tower with Steve and this story happens. So this is kinda cannon, but not cannon at all.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Original Female Character(s), James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers/Original Female Character(s), Steve Rogers/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 61





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Like I said in the description, this takes place during/after CA:CW. Steve, Sam, Natasha, and Kennedy get Bucky from Bucharest and bring him back to New York where he lives in the Avengers Tower with Steve and Kennedy. That's all you need to know for now! Enjoy!

“So, it’s just gonna be me, you, and Kennedy?” Bucky asked Steve, still unsure of all the change in his life. A little over a month ago Steve, Sam, Natasha, and Kennedy had all tracked Bucky down in Bucharest and ever since then Bucky has felt as if his world has been turned upside down. Sure, it was great having Steve back in his life, but he was wary of new people. Who could blame him after all he had been through? 

The pair were traveling back to the Avengers Tower from SHEILD where Bucky had been staying since they arrived back in New York. It was just precautionary for him to stay there for a short time, to monitor him and begin therapy. “Yeah, just me, you, and Kennedy,” Steve said, hoping to reassure his friend, “but I do need to tell you something about her before we get home.” 

Bucky gulped, immediately fearing the worst. “What is it?” Bucky asked hesitantly. Did she hate him? Not want him to live there? Had he hurt someone she knew?

“It’s nothing bad, promise. But you’re gonna find out eventually, probably as soon as we walk through the door, and may as well tell you now so you’re not surprised. Kennedy is a little and I, um, I’ve been taking care of her for the past few years.” 

“A what?” Bucky asked, trying not to sound rude. Even though he was cleared to go home, he still wasn’t fluent in the 21st century. 

“A little. Sometimes, well a good chunk of the time, Kennie will go into a different headspace. It’s the headspace of a child, far away from the adult world. It’s how she copes with stress and other issues. And since she joined the Avengers, I’ve been taking care of her,” Steve explained, trying to make it as clear as he could. 

“So, are you two together?” Bucky asked after a long pause in the conversation. 

“Ha, no. Not even close. We’re just friends and it’s not sexual or anything between us.” 

“What do you mean you take care of her, then?” 

“Well, like I said she’s in the headspace of a child, so I take care of her like you would any child. Make sure she’s fed, bathed, safe...” Steve trailed off. 

“What else?” Bucky asked, knowing there was more to that explanation. He may not have seen Steve for over seventy years, but he still knew his best friend like the back of his hand. 

“Oh god, she’ll kill me. She made me promise not to tell you everything right away,” Steve rambled. 

“Well you don’t gotta tell me if it’s gonna be a big deal for her. But like you said, I’m gonna find out eventually so may as well have me find out when we’re alone,” Bucky reasoned. 

“You’re right. I’d rather you be shocked here in the car than infront of her,” Steve started. “Well, when she’s in her younger headspace, it’s pretty young. She, um, she wears diapers cause she has accidents sometimes. Especially when she sleeps. She has nightmares a lot and they can trigger a lot of things. Sorry if it’s weird for you and if it is -” 

“No it’s fine, I get it. I think. Everyone deals with things differently. I would know,” Bucky said, forcing a chuckle. 

“Would you be okay, maybe, one day, eventually, taking care of her if I’m away? Usually I have her stay with Natasha just in case, but maybe it could be good for you, too,” Steve suggested. 

“Yeah, maybe. If she’s okay with it,” Bucky offered. Maybe it would be good for him. 

~~~~~~~~~~

“Kennedy! We’re home!” Steve called out as him and Bucky exited the elevator to Steve and Kennedy’s private floor. Technically, it’s Bucky’s now too. 

“She’s in her room. She probably won’t come out unless you make her,” Natasha said, appearing from the kitchen. 

“Is everything okay?” Bucky asked innocently. 

“Oh, yeah. She’s just little right now and she’s really shy when she’s little. Don’t take it personally,” Steve said, putting one of Bucky’s bags down. 

“You told him?” Natasha asked, raising an eyebrow. Steve nodded. “How much?” She pressed. 

“Um, everything?” Steve said, knowing exactly what Natasha was going to say back. 

“She’s going to kill you. You know how she is about this kind of stuff.” 

“Okay, but she also agreed to have Bucky live here knowing full well he’d find out eventually. I figured I’d tell him before he walked in and saw her so he wasn’t completely blindsided,” Steve argued. 

“Fine, but at least go in and see her. She’s been waiting for you,” Natasha said before entering the elevator to go back to her own room, leaving the boys to fend for themselves. 

“Here, I’ll show you your room and then I’ll go check on her,” Steve said, walking towards a hallway with a few bedroom doors. He pointed towards a door which would now be Bucky’s and continued to walk down the hall towards Kennedy’s room. “Hi Kennie,” he said, poking his head in. She was laying on her bed, watching TV, some cartoon show that Natasha had no doubt put on for her. She was wearing one of Steve’s t-shirts that was more like a dress on her with only a pull-up underneath, no pants. 

“Hi Daddy,” Kennedy said shyly, sitting up. Kennedy was a petite little thing, but she was fierce. She was similar to Black Widow in the fact that she was a trained assassin with an ability to strike fear into the hearts of even the bravest of men. But here she was in front of Steve; shy, quiet, and small. 

“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” Steve asked, coming to sit next to her on the bed. She didn’t answer him, but crawled into his lap instead. “Are you being shy today?”

“Mhm,” was all the response Steve got, accompanied by a small nod. 

“Do you wanna go say hi to Bucky in a little bit? He’s in his room right now,” Steve suggested. Kennedy immediately shook her head, her black hair swinging wildly. “Well, we can stay in here for a little bit and watch your show, but you can’t stay in here all night, okay?” 

“Okay Daddy,” Kennedy said, snuggling closer into Steve. She had been in little space all day and missed him a lot. Sure, Natasha was with her, but she wasn’t as good as Steve. He had been Kennedy’s caregiver for almost two years now and she was very attached to him. They were best friends. One of the many reasons they lived together. She wasn’t a big fan of Bucky coming to live with them, but she would never deny Steve the chance to have his oldest friend close to him again. She’d just have to get over her nerves and face Bucky eventually. “Does he know?” She asked, slowly coming out of little space, more aware of the logistics of the situation. 

“Yeah, I told him in the car on the way here. He doesn’t have a problem with it. He’s just giving you your space,” Steve gently explained, stroking her back. “Now how about we get you changed and we can watch your show?” Steve suggested, trying to change the subject. 

“Okay, Daddy,” Kennedy said with a smile, feeling herself slipping back down into little space at the idea of cuddling with her Daddy in bed, watching cartoons. 

~~~~~~~~~~

It had been a few days since Bucky first arrived. That first night, Kennedy had managed to convince Steve to let her stay in her room because she was anxious about Bucky seeing her like that. The next day, she woke up big and said hi to Bucky that morning, acting completely normal. She knew he knew about her being a little, but she would never bring it up herself. At least not without Steve around. 

She had tried her best not to be little in front of Bucky, staying mostly in her or Steve’s room and Bucky had respected her space. Steve continuously tried to get Kennedy to come out of her room, but she’d only come out when she had to eat. She just kept forcing herself to be big anytime Bucky entered the room, much to Steve’s dismay. He kept telling her it was bad for her not to be little, that it would only stress her out and make her mental health worse. She ignored him and continued in her fight to stay big. 

When she wasn’t hiding, her and Bucky would hang out. She had taught him how to use the televisions in the apartment and all the other fancy tech in the Avengers Tower and they were slowly becoming friends. They quickly bonded over telling each other embarrassing stories about Steve, and they started opening up to one another. She almost felt bad for alienating him from a part of her life, but she just wasn’t ready yet and he wasn’t planning on pushing her. 

At around 11am, Steve stumbled into the living room where Kennedy and Bucky had been watching TV, clearly in a rush. “Hey Kennie, can I talk to you in the kitchen for a second?” 

“Yeah, what’s up?” She asked, following him. 

“So Nat just called me and she needs me and Sam for a few days. She needs us to go undercover. I’ll be home soon. Are you going to be okay here? You can come with but I think it would be good if you stayed with Bucky. And if anything happens he’ll be here for you too,” Steve rushed out. 

“Um, yeah, I guess. I’ll be fine Steve, just be safe, okay?’ Kennedy reassured him. 

“I will be. Love you, kiddo,” Steve said, wrapping her into a hug and placing a kiss on her forehead. “I’ll be back in no time.” 

“Love you too. Bye, Stevie,” Kennedy said, making her way back into the living room. 

“Bye guys, be good,” Steve said his final goodbye before picking up his bag and going into the elevator. Kennedy knew the “be good” was for her. 

Kennedy had a plan. Stay big. She could handle a few days. She’s done it before, and in more stressful situations than a new person being around. Just stay big until Steve gets back. Easy, right? 

~~~~~~~~~~

“So you liked the diner?” Kennedy asked as her and Bucky came back into the apartment. Her and Bucky had decided to go out to dinner tonight instead of cooking again. It has been three days since Steve had left and he was due back in the morning. In the meantime, Kennedy and Bucky had developed a little routine. Wake up, eat breakfast, go to the gym, have lunch together, hang out together, and have dinner together. It wasn’t much of a routine but it kept them busy and not lonely. And Kennedy had stayed big the whole time. She was thankful that Steve was due back because it was stressful being big all the time. Especially when she had to force herself to be. 

“Yeah, it was quiet. And the food was good,” Bucky said with a smile as they sat down on the couch. 

“Good, I figured you’d like the quiet. Maybe when Steve gets back we can go again, all three of us,” she suggested. Bucky only nodded as he turned the TV on. Another documentary. Steve had suggested he watch some so he could catch up on everything he missed, and Kennedy was more than happy to keep him company. It was fascinating to her to watch him learn about all these cool things (and not so cool things) that had happened since the 40’s. He’d get all excited about something new and ask questions and be surprised and Kennedy found it to be really endearing. 

Finally, around 8pm, Kennedy let out a loud yawn, signalling it was time for her to start getting ready for bed. She had gotten up early since she discovered that Bucky is an early riser. “Well, I’m going to bed. Night, Buck. Don’t hesitate to let me know if you need anything,” Kennedy said, getting up from the couch. 

“Goodnight, Kennedy. And you too. If you need anything, I mean. I’m only a few doors away,” Bucky said awkwardly. Kennedy gave him a smile and left the room, not wanting to respond to his comment. She knew he meant that if she slipped into little space and needed him that he would be there. But she wouldn’t. She’d just wait for Steve to get home. 

~~~~~~~~~~

“What do you mean she hasn’t been little this whole time?” Steve asked Bucky over the phone. The mission was finally over and him, Sam, and Natasha were staying at a hotel for the night before heading back to the city. 

“She just hasn’t. And she won’t talk about it and I’m not gonna make her,” Bucky tried explaining. 

“This isn’t gonna end well. She never stays big this long unless we're on a mission. It’s been three days. She’s bound to drop soon and it’s not going to be pretty. Tell JARVIS to keep an eye on her tonight and wake you up if she drops. He knows what to look for,” Steve explained. 

“What do you mean ‘it won’t be pretty’?” 

“A lot of crying. Possibly a tantrum. It’s not always sprinkles and rainbows, Buck,” Steve explained with a chuckle. “Anyways, I’m gonna turn in for the night. We’ll be back pretty early tomorrow. I tried calling Kennie but I think she’s asleep. Call me if you need me, but I’m sure everything will be fine until I get back.” 

“Alright, night Steve,” Bucky said, hanging up the phone. He hoped Steve was right. He didn’t know what to do if Kennedy started crying, or threw a tantrum, or was little at all. Nervously, he trudged his way to his bedroom and got ready for bed. Once situated, he called out to JARVIS, “Hey, JARVIS, can you keep an eye on Kennedy tonight? And wake me up if she needs me?”

“Yes, Sergeant Barnes. Ms. Acker is sleeping right now, so she should be okay until the morning but I will inform you if she wakes up,” JARVIS said. 

“Thank you,” Bucky said, still unsure how to talk to the AI. Was it a real person? It seemed like one to him. Just another thing that confused Bucky about the 21st century. With the relief that Kennedy was asleep, Bucky began to doze off himself. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Bucky jumped awake at a little before 4am to a piercing scream followed by a loud sob. He was immediately on high alert, loud noises were never good things. He took deep breaths and focused intently on listening, when a gentle voice came through the speakers. “Sergeant Barnes, Ms. Acker is now awake. It seems that she has had a nightmare. I would suggest going to check on her,” JARVIS stated, seemingly unalarmed. Could JARVIS even get worried? Or scared? Bucky pushed those thoughts out of his head as he climbed out of bed, threw on a shirt, and followed the sounds of the muffled cries. 

He finally made his way down the hall to Kennedy’s room and poked his head in. She was curled up on her bed, slightly shaking, sobbing, and sucking her thumb. Bucky’s heart broke looking at the scared little girl in front of him. He didn’t know what to do, but he promised himself he’d do anything he could to make her feel better. “Kennedy,” he started quietly to make sure not to startle her, “is everything okay?”

He sat on the edge of the bed and tried to wait for her to calm down. She looked up at him with big, doe eyes and her sobbing only worsened. “Hey, hey, it’s gonna be okay doll. What’s wrong?” Bucky asked, rubbing her arm gently. She didn’t retract from his touch, which was a good start, but she was still inconsolable. “What do you need, doll?” Bucky asked, growing more nervous by the second. 

“Wa-want Daddy,” she cried, shoving her face into the pillow. The pillow muffled her cries, but it did not help Bucky’s panicking. He had no idea what to do. Steve said it probably wouldn’t happen. Yet there she was, a sobbing mess, and Bucky had no idea how to help her. 

“St-Daddy will be home in the morning. Only a few more hours doll. You just gotta calm down so I can help you, okay?” Bucky said gently. He hoped his reassurances would work. They didn’t. 

“Nooo,” Kennedy cried out, “want Daddy nooow.” 

Bucky felt his whole body go numb with panic. Kennedy could not stay like this until Steve got home. No way. “JARVIS, call Steve.” 

“Sergeant Barnes, it is 4 in the morning,” JARVIS replied, reminding Bucky of the time. Bucky knew what time it was, but drastic times called for drastic measures. 

“Call Steve,” Bucky repeated, staring down at Kennedy. She shyly looked back at him, tears still streaming from her eyes but she was finally quiet. He gave her a small smile as the ringing started and he watched her perk up a little bit. 

“Bucky?” Steve’s rough voice asked from the other line. He has clearly just woken up, but Bucky didn’t care right now. All he cared about was Kennedy. 

“Hey, Steve. Sorry if we’re waking you up, but I have a little one here right now who needs to talk to her Daddy. Right, Kennedy?” Bucky asked, rubbing her arm. Kennedy nodded and bit her lip, unsure of what to do. “Say hi, doll,” Bucky instructed. 

“Hi Daddy,” Kennedy said, looking up at the ceiling. Bucky’s heart melted at the sight of her. She was just too damn cute and innocent. Pure. 

“Hi Kennie. Is everything okay?” Steve asked, finally understanding why he got woken up. 

“Had a nightmawe,” Kennedy said shortly. 

“Oh sweetheart, I’m sorry I can’t be there right now. But I’ll be there in a few hours, I promise. We can talk about it then. And we can do whatever you want tomorrow, okay? But right now you need to be a good girl and let Bucky take care of you. Do you think you can do that for me?” Steve asked. Bucky was in awe at how effortlessly his friend got this scared, little girl to calm down. He knew exactly the right thing to say. Bucky considered it to be a talent. One of many Steve possessed. 

“Okay Daddy,” Kennedy said nervously. She shyly looked at Bucky, unsure of him taking care of her. She truly had no choice in the matter. Bucky was the only other person around and Kennedy was in no shape to take care of herself. 

“Thank you, Kennie. And the sooner you get back to sleep, the sooner I’ll be home. So try to fall asleep as soon as you can, okay? And Bucky, whatever she needs, JARVIS will let you know where it is. Thank you for being there for her,” Steve said. 

“Of course, anything for this little doll,” Bucky said, smiling down at her. She smiled back, albeit a small smile, but it was a smile nonetheless. 

“Are you gonna be okay if I go back to sleep Kennie?” Steve asked.

“Yes, Daddy.” 

“Okay, goodnight sweetheart. Night, Bucky.”

“Night night Daddy.” 

“Night, Steve,” Bucky finally said, and with that, the call ended. Bucky turned his attention back to Kennedy, not that it ever really left her in the first place. “Now, what do you need before bed doll?” 

Kennedy turned a bright shade of pink and once again hid in her pillow. She wasn’t crying, which Bucky took as a good sign, but he was still confused. “Kennedy, you heard Daddy. You gotta let me take care of you. What do you need?” Bucky asked again gently, rubbing her arm again. 

“M’wet,” Kennedy mumbled into the pillow. Wet? Oh. Bucky remembered Steve telling him that Kennedy wore diapers when he first told him about her. 

“Where are they, doll?” Bucky asked. She didn’t look up, but she pointed in the direction of her closet. Bucky stood up slowly, not wanting to startle her and walked over to the closet. He opened the door and was met with everything a little girl could dream of. So this is where they kept all of her stuff. There was a large box of toys on the ground, a ton of onesies and cute frilly clothes perfectly suited to the little girls’ taste, and a few stacks of different types of diapers. And that was only the half of it. Bucky picked the first diaper he saw and some wipes because they were next to them, just in case. He had younger siblings and vaguely remembered what his mother would do, but he was mostly going off of instinct and context clues. 

Bucky walked back over to the bed and sat besides Kennedy. She was still under her blankets, face down on her pillow. He couldn’t do anything with her in this position. “I need you to roll over and come out from under the covers, okay doll?” 

Kennedy simply nodded and rolled over. With a shaky hand, she slowly turned over the covers to reveal a wet pair of pajama pants and a very wet bed underneath her. Tears started to prick her eyes with embarrassment and she hid her face in her hands. 

“Hey, it’s okay. You had a scary dream. It happens. I'm just gonna move you over, okay?” Bucky said, speaking gently and staring at Kennedy intently. She nodded from behind her hands, giving Bucky permission to move her. He scooped her up slowly and placed her on the other side of the bed, away from the puddle, and began to strip her. “I’ll do it fast, okay? You don’t have to be embarrassed,” Bucky said, attempting to talk her through it. 

He quickly undressed her, wiped her down, and placed her securely in a diaper. “Do you want another pair of pants? I don’t want you getting cold doll.” 

“No. Comfy,” she said, thumb back in her mouth. 

Bucky chuckled which made her smile up at him. “Whatever you say, doll. Now, how about we put you in Daddy’s bed for the rest of the night? So when he gets home you’ll be the first thing he sees,” Bucky suggested. 

“You,” was all Kennedy said back. 

“Me?” Bucky asked, raising his eyebrows. He didn’t exactly follow her train of thought. 

“Sleep with you?” She half stated, half asked, looking up with him with big eyes. 

“Okay, doll. You can sleep with me if you want. Are you sure?” He asked with another chuckle. He was shocked that she had suggested this. A mere twenty minutes ago, she wanted nothing to do with him in her room, and now she wanted to sleep in the same bed as him.

Kennedy nodded her head vigorously at him and made grabby hands at him from her spot on the bed. Bucky’s heart, once again, melted at the sight of her and he picked her up right away, balancing her on his hip. “Do you want anything from your room before we go? A stuffie? A blankie?” He asked. He had heard Steve say those words before, so he figured they would be right in this context. 

“Nuh uh, jus sleepy,” Kennedy said, putting her thumb back in her mouth and letting her head rest on Bucky’s shoulder. He had purposefully put her on the side of his flesh arm so the cold wouldn’t startle her. 

He made quick work of walking down the hallway and placing her down in his bed. She immediately curled up and took claim of one side of the bed as if she had been sleeping there for years. At least she’s comfortable. Bucky crawled back into bed, leaving his shirt on this time. He would feel weird if he took it off. He didn’t want to over step anymore boundaries tonight. 

Finally, Bucky settled on his side and got comfortable. His eyes were only shut for a few minutes before he felt movement by his side, and before he knew it Kennedy was wrapping her arms around him and curling up into his chest. He stiffened for a moment, unsure of what to do. He knew she would already be uncomfortable with the events of the night once she was big again, and cuddling would only make it worse. But he wanted to cuddle her back so badly. It was the first intimate human contact he had had in decades. His internal debate was broken by a loud whine and Kennedy nuzzling closer in him, indicating she wanted to be cuddled back. That settled it. Bucky gently placed his arms around her and pulled her close. He could at least have this for the night. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Steve entered the apartment around 9 in the morning, not expecting anyone to be up. He had been woken up early, not long after his phone call with Bucky and Kennedy, and packed in a Quinjet to come home. He knew he would get a few more hours of quiet before his friends woke up, but he needed to go check on Kennedy. At least to know she was okay. 

He placed his bag gently by the couch and went down the hallway to Kennedy’s bedroom. He opened the door gently and was shocked to not find her in there. “What the fuck?” He muttered under his breath. There is no way she’s awake right now. He left her room and searched through the kitchen, the living room, and every other room in the large apartment but could not find her. The only room he hadn’t checked was Bucky’s. No way.

Steve slowly made his way back down the hall to Bucky’s bedroom. He paused outside of the door for a moment, still unsure about opening the door. He knew Kennedy like the back of his hand. No way she would allow herself to sleep in bed with a person she wasn’t 100% comfortable with, little or not. Maybe she was more comfortable with Bucky than Steve thought? Or maybe Bucky forced her to sleep in his room? Her bed was wet, Steve had noted, so Bucky may not have known what else to do? 

Steve slowly opened the door, not wanting to wake Bucky, or Kennedy if she was in fact in the room, and his mouth fell open at what he saw. Kennedy was snuggled close to Bucky, practically clinging to him, in her sleep. And Bucky was cuddling back. No way.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone has a lot of feelings about what happened the night before between Kennedy and Bucky.

The morning went on as normal for Steve. He made himself breakfast, having only eaten a little before coming home. He made a little extra too for when Kennedy and Bucky woke up. Pancakes. How could he go wrong with pancakes? 

While his body did what it would normally do, his mind was spinning. He was still confused about seeing Kennedy and Bucky together in the same bed, actually cuddling. Kennedy didn’t quite trust new people, so it was just flat out confusing. She hadn’t even really wanted Bucky here in the first place, Steve knew. So what compelled her to sleep in his bed and snuggle so close? And Bucky. Bucky was weary of just about everyone and everything at this point. He didn’t trust a single thing, besides Steve, not that Steve would ever fault him for being that way. But what made him trust her enough for her to be that close to him? 

His train of thought was ruined when he heard a loud “Daddy!” from the doorway, and suddenly Kennedy was in his arms. He wrapped her up and perched her on his hip as they have done a thousand times before. “I missed you!”

“I missed you too, Kennie,” Steve said, placing a kiss on her forehead. “You hungry?”

“Yes, Daddy,” Kennedy said back, nodding. Steve wordlessly brought her over to the table in an attempt to place her down in one of the empty chairs, but she just clung to him tighter. 

“You really missed me, huh?” Steve asked with a chuckle. Kennedy blushed and hid her face into Steve’s neck, silently nodding. “Okay baby, you can sit on my lap. Do you need to be changed before we eat?” 

“Nuh uh,” Kennedy answered back, still hiding her face away. Content with her answer, Steve didn’t check and he continued to set the table and bring the pancakes over one-handed, until finally sitting down. They ate breakfast and spoke about his mission. Even little, Kennedy was still able to understand missions and always took the time to ensure that Steve was okay. After feeling as though he reassured her enough that he wasn’t hurt in any way, Steve decided to change the subject. 

“How was everything here?” He asked, almost hesitantly. He didn’t know what she would say. Usually, he knew if things had gone good or bad, but after what he had seen just an hour ago, he was confused. 

“Was good, Daddy,” was all she said back before taking another bite. Steve didn’t know if he wanted to push her or not. Kennedy wanted to tell Steve that her and Bucky had gotten along great, that they were on their way to becoming good friends, and that he had done a great job taking care of her even when she didn’t want it, but - like Steve - her thoughts got interrupted when Bucky came into the kitchen. 

“Morning, Buck,” Steve chimed up, almost immediately. Steve had no intent of bringing up what he saw until he had to, and now was definitely not the time. 

“Morning,” Bucky replied back, voice still deep from sleep. 

From there, the morning went on as normal. Or as normal as they could all convince themselves it was. Kennedy and Bucky still had no idea that Steve saw them cuddled up, but Bucky had an inkling that he definitely did. Even now, after all these years and all the memories taken from him, he still somehow knew Steve like the back of his hand. Bucky knew they should talk about it, he just didn’t know when. And Kennedy just wanted to forget it even happened and she was doing her best to do just that. 

Bucky had disappeared to the gym for a bit, missing his recent gym buddy, but he convinced himself he needed to stay on somewhat of a schedule and be a normal person again. Plus, it got him out of Steve’s questioning gaze for a bit. He stayed down there for longer than he should have, doing a whole lot of nothing for a while, because by the time he had come back to the apartment and showered, Kennedy was already down for her afternoon nap. 

“How was the gym?” Steve questioned as Bucky made himself a sandwich for lunch. 

“Good,” was all Bucky said back. 

“What’s up?” Steve asked, voice full of concern and questions. 

“I could ask you the same,” Bucky said, finally making eye contact, raising his eyebrow a bit in a joking fashion. 

“What do you mean?” Steve asked, trying to deflect. 

“C’mon Steve, you know exactly what I mean. You’ve been givin’ me a look all day like you wanna ask me somethin’, so ask.” 

“I-um,” Steve really didn’t know how to bring this up without sounding condescending or jealous. He wanted Bucky to make new friends and feel comfortable with people, especially Kennedy considering they all lived together. And he wasn’t jealous. Shocked? Yes. Confused? Yes. But not jealous. Him and Kennedy were best friends and they were both content with that. They had tried to take it further once with a kiss, and both quickly agreed that they stayed friends and that was that. He didn’t want Kennedy like that in a way shape or form. He just wanted to know how that happened in such a short span of time. “I-uh-saw you and Kennedy this morning and I can’t help but have a few questions,” Steve finally admitted. 

“Figured you did. I knew you’d look for her once she got back, especially considering last night. Ask away,” Bucky said, sitting down at the table with his lunch. Steve joined him, his head spinning, trying to decide on what to ask and how to ask it.

“Well, I guess I just don’t understand. Neither one of you are the most trusting of people, especially new people. So how did you two end up in the same bed? Cuddling?”

“It was her idea, actually. I was just gonna put her in your bed for the rest of the night cause her bed was wet. But she said she wanted to stay with me, and I wasn’t gonna say no. She was already a mess. And then she cuddled up to me and I guess it felt nice, so I cuddled back,” Bucky explained, watching Steve’s face intently. It hadn’t felt like a big deal to Bucky in the moment. The most he was worried about last night was Kennedy getting mad at him, not Steve’s reaction. Maybe it was a big deal?

“She suggested it?” Steve asked with a laugh. No way. Bucky just nodded, taking a bite of his sandwich. “Huh, guess she likes you more than I thought she did. And I guess you’re a little more willing to trust than I thought.” 

Again, Bucky just nodded in response. He was starting to get confused himself. Why was this such a big deal to Steve? 

“You like her, don’t you?” Steve finally asked, breaking the short bit of silence they had. 

“Well, yeah. She’s a great girl and-”

“No, Buck. Not like that. You like like her,” Steve stated, for a lack of better words. 

“I don’t know. I don’t think so,” Bucky said, taking another bite so he wouldn’t have to talk more. Did he? He kept telling himself that last night only happened because he took pity on the poor girl and wouldn’t have left her alone if she didn’t want to be. He knew what alone felt like and didn’t want anyone else feeling like that. But it had felt so good, to have her wrapped in his arms. Maybe he did like her like that. He pushed those thoughts to the back of his head and continued to focus on his sandwich. 

“Well, either way, you did a great job with her, so thank you. And, if you wanted to, you could spend more time with her, I think she’d like that too,” Steve suggested lightly. He didn’t want to force anything on to Bucky, or Kennedy, but they clearly enjoyed each other's company. He didn’t want him being back to deter the budding friendship, or whatever it was. 

“Yeah, I think I’d like that,” Bucky agreed. 

There was one final bit of silence, allowing Bucky to take the last bite of the sandwich, before he asked Steve about his trip. The conversation about last night was left behind. 

~~~~~~~~~~

It was well past the time where Kennedy should be awake. Usually, she’d come right out and find Steve, wanting a snack or wanting to be changed, but she hadn’t yet. And no way she was still sleeping. Something was wrong, so Steve figured it would be best to at least go check on her. 

Steve found her on her floor, coloring away in one of the many coloring books he had got her. It helped her calm down, which is why he bought so many. Life was tough as an Avenger, and they all had trauma, so whatever helped in the slightest was a relief to all of them. 

“Hey Kennie,” he said gently, altering her of his presence. 

“Hi,” Kennedy replied, not looking up from her picture. Steve joined her on the floor, laying out beside her and turned towards her. 

“Is everything okay? You didn’t come out after your nap,” Steve questioned. 

“Yeah, just feeling a little, um, weird, I guess,” Kennedy said. She was in a fine line between little and big, and she desperately wanted to stay little. She didn’t want to care about what happened last night. It wasn’t really a big deal, but she knew now that it was so unlike her. She wouldn’t sleep with anyone else besides Steve. Not even Natasha, and that was one of her best friends. She only trusted Steve. So why had she felt so okay sleeping with Bucky? And what did Bucky think? He must think she’s so weird and gross and stupid. He had to change her into a pull-up for heaven's sake! He has to think all of this is so weird and gross. 

“Weird about what, sweetheart?”

She paused for a minute. She didn’t want to ruin anything in their little apartment. Bucky seemed happy here. Steve was happy Bucky was here. Kennedy was happy to see Steve happy. But she still felt a little weary with Bucky around. Especially seeing her in such a fragile state. 

“You can tell me, Kennie,” Steve reminded her. “I just want to make sure you’re okay and you’re not right now. So just tell me and we can make it better.” 

She paused again, but this time was to put her words together. Steve waited her out patiently. “I just hate that Bucky had to deal with all that last night. I feel guilty. I should have tried harder to stay big. He probably doesn’t like me anymore” was what she finally got out. 

“Oh, sweetheart, no,” Steve started. “Don’t feel like that. He does like you and from what he’s told me he really enjoyed your company. And he didn’t mind last night, he even told me he’d like to help take care of you again. So please try not to be too hard on yourself, okay?” He asked, brushing her hair back from her face. 

Kennedy looked up at Steve with big eyes that looked to be happy. “He-he’d take care of me again?” Kennedy really, really liked the idea of that. 

Steve just chuckled. “Yeah, if you want that. He’d never try to do anything unless you wanted or needed it, though. And I think you’ve been hiding in here because you don’t want to be around him when you’re little, but you don’t have to worry about that anymore. He doesn’t mind it and he wants to help you if you let him.” 

“O-okay, I think I’d like that,” Kennedy said with a small nod that was more for herself than for Steve. She did like that. 

“And it doesn’t have to be soon. You can take as long as you need to be comfortable. We’re all getting used to this, y’know?” Steve explained and Kennedy nodded in agreeance. “You’re getting used to a whole new person living with us, I’m getting used to having Bucky back in my life and what all that means, and he’s getting used to living a normal life again. We’ll all just take it slow and do things when it feels right. Sound good to you?” Again, Kennedy nodded. 

It was what they all needed really, was to just take it day by day. Do what feels right. Slow. 

“Are you up to talking about your dream now?” Steve asked her. 

“Yeah, I think I should,” Kennedy replied, and with that, the thoughts of her and Bucky’s previous night left her mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lmk what you think! I'll be updating again soon!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kennedy and Bucky seem to just be getting closer and closer by the day.

It had been a few days since Steve returned from his mission and everything was normal. Well, as normal as it could be with two super soldiers and a little running about the apartment. Kennedy had mostly stayed little since Steve got home, not that anyone was complaining. They had nothing else to do over the past few days and it was just relaxing. It was Monday morning when Steve got called into SHIELD for “god knows what” as he said, and Kennedy was thankful she woke up on the big side of the bed, not wanting a repeat of the week before. 

“You wanna go do something today?” Kennedy asked Bucky when she came across him in the kitchen hours later. Kennedy noticed he didn’t leave the apartment much, probably due to his anxiety around people, so she thought it would at least be good to offer. 

“Yeah, sure. What were you thinking?” He asked, looking up from his drink. 

“Wanna go out to lunch again?” 

“Yeah, same place?” Bucky really wasn’t in the mood to try anything new, so he hoped she would agree. 

Sensing his anxiety, Kennedy smoothly replied, “Yeah, I love the diner. I just gotta go shower and then we can go?” 

Bucky nodded before she retreated back into her room, and he couldn’t help but feel excited. It was strange for him. He hated going outside. Hated being around too many people. Bucky was always scared HYDRA was going to come back and find him, despite Steve and Kennedy’s reassurances that he was safe with them. But Bucky was excited to spend time with Kennedy, even if that meant facing the world for a few hours, a previously daunting task in his mind. 

~~~~~~~~~~

The pair made it to the diner in one piece and were eating their lunch. Kennedy couldn’t help but notice Bucky seemed off. His eyes were darting around, taking a mental profile of everyone. His head would snap to the door anytime the bells chimed, announcing someone’s entrance or exit. She even noticed his leg bouncing under the table. He was barely eating. “Everything okay, Buck?” Kennedy asked. 

“Y-yeah,” Bucky stuttered, “it’s just kinda hard sometimes.” Bucky looked down at his meal, not wanting to make eye contact with Kennedy. He was embarrassed that he had such a hard time with simple things. He just wanted to feel like a normal person again. 

“Hey, it’s okay,” Kennedy said quietly, “look at me.” Bucky moved slowly, but he eventually complied with her soft command to make eye contact with her over the booth. “I get that it’s hard, I do. I know what it’s like to get overwhelmed with crowds and not trust anyone around you. But you’re doing really well. I didn’t even think you’d say yes to coming out again so soon. And we can always go home if it’s getting too much,” Kennedy explained. At some point while she was talking, Bucky had taken her hand in his flesh one over the table, as a way to ground himself in the moment. She gave his hand a small squeeze and gave him a small smile, which he reciprocated before taking a deep breath. 

“Why don’t you trust people?” He asked quietly. 

“I don’t know how much Steve told you about any of us, but me and Natasha were both trained in the Red Room,” Kennedy started, immediately answering Bucky. She hoped her story would help calm him down a bit, and reassure him that his future was going to be okay. It wasn’t always going to be fear and mistrust. “She took me with her before I graduated, but all the training is still there. And the brainwashing, somewhat. It’s hard sometimes to get out of that mindset still. When I first came out, I only spoke when spoken to, and only with Natasha. But after time, we both got better. And then I met everyone else, and got used to being around people. It’s gotten better, but I still have my moments.” 

Bucky only nodded, taking it in. He remembered parts of the Red Room, they would come to him in dreams. He gulped hard before asking, “Did you ever see me in the Red Room?”. He was scared of the answer, so he looked down at his plate again, food still mostly untouched. The grasp on her hand remained, and she could feel his hand beginning to shake.

“No, I was never ‘good enough’,” she stated, quoting what she had been told all those years ago. “But, I heard stories from the others and Natasha about the Winter Soldier.” 

Kennedy paused to gauge his reaction. Bucky immediately froze at her words and yanked his hand away from her. 

“Hey, it’s okay. It wasn’t you. I don’t blame you for any of that, I blame the fucks that brainwashed us and tortured us to do all those things. I don’t think of you like that. Not at all. I trust you,” she said, coaxing him back to put his arm back on the table. She placed her small hand in his large one and gave it a squeeze. 

“You trust me?” He asked, almost shocked. This caused him to look back up at her, his blue eyes staring into her green one. Kennedy let out a small giggle at his question, and gave him a shy smile. 

“Yes, Bucky. I do trust you. It took me a little bit, but I do.” 

“I trust you too,” Bucky admitted, blushing slightly. Kennedy almost melted at how adorable he looked. Who knew a former assassin could even be adorable? 

“Thank you, for trusting me. I know how hard it is. It took me a long time to trust Steve, but look at us now. It gets easier, I promise.” 

“I hope you’re right,” Bucky said, squeezing her hand one last time before finally taking another bite of his sandwich. 

~~~~~~~~~~

After soothing Bucky at the diner, the rest of lunch went relatively well. The pair settled on talking about Kennedy’s life, and even she was shocked with how much she opened up to him. But, she was preaching about trust and about things getting easier, so she felt compelled to. And Bucky was still uncomfortable talking about his own life, not yet being able to decipher which memories were true or false. Bucky was more than happy to listen to her talk. He enjoyed her stories, even the bad ones. He finally felt like he had another friend in this crazy, new world he found himself in. 

Currently, the pair were seated on the couch, watching a documentary about the Cold War, waiting for Steve to get home. Kennedy didn’t mind watching documentaries anymore, she had gone through many with Steve, and she knew they were helping Bucky too, so she went along with it. 

It was only half way through the documentary when Kennedy could feel her mindset begin to shift. It’s what tended to happen when she was lounging on the couch watching these documentaries. She would get bored and her mind would drift elsewhere, and sometimes her mind just wanted to be in little space, like now. Kennedy began shifting around, trying to fight the urge to just let go, but she couldn’t shake it no matter how hard she tried. She wanted a normal day with Bucky and the least she wanted to do was avoid a repeat of her previous weeks freak out. Bucky had noticed her shifting a long time ago, but it was only getting worse over time, so he couldn’t not say anything anymore. 

“You okay, Kennedy?” He asked, turning his attention from the screen to her. 

“Uh, yeah. Yeah, I’m good,” Kennedy spit out, trying to convince herself more than him. He only raised an eyebrow and turned his attention back to the screen. Kennedy knew she had been caught, but also knew he didn’t know exactly what she was doing which gave her some relief. 

Ten minutes went by and Kennedy knew she had to let herself give in or she was just going to be uncomfortable and moody until Steve came back. She allowed herself to place her thumb in her mouth, curling away from Bucky as she did so. What she didn’t know is that he noticed, and was now keeping a watchful eye on her just in case. He let her stay like that for a bit, but she started getting restless again. He was at a loss for what to do for a moment. He didn’t know whether to leave her to figure out what she wanted on her own, or to take charge in the situation. He decided to just act on instinct. 

“Hey, Kennedy, do you need anything?” Bucky asked gently, placing his flesh hand on her leg lightly. He saw her remove her thumb for her mouth in a quick motion before she turned to him, eyes large and looking like a deer in headlights. She knew she got caught. 

“I, um, I-” she began mumbling. 

“It’s okay. Just wanted you to know I’m here if you need anything,” he said, stroking her leg. 

She gulped and nodded. She was still unsure of herself around Bucky when she was little, but she couldn’t help herself sometimes. “Can we cuddle?” She quietly asked, letting her head fall down, dark brown hair hiding her face. Bucky just stared at for a moment, dumbstruck that this was happening again, but he was melting. She was just too precious. 

“‘Course we can, doll. Come here,” Bucky said with a smile, holding his arms out slightly. She moved slowly, unsure of each little movement, but finally she ended up on his lap, cuddled into his chest with her thumb placed firmly back in her mouth. Much like Kennedy, Bucky was unsure of himself, but he found himself slowly wrapping his hands around her middle, keeping her securely in place. 

Not too long after, the documentary was over, not that Kennedy was paying attention anymore. She was half asleep in Bucky’s arms, content with listening to his breathing as it lulled her to sleep. Satisfied that she was deep in little space, Bucky asked her, “How about we go get you changed and into comfy clothes, hm?” 

“Yes please,” Kennedy said softly, and it became clear to Bucky just how close to sleep she had been. 

“We can cuddle some more after, okay? And you can nap if you want,” Bucky proposition as he carried her into her room bridal style. At the idea, Kennedy giggled shyly and nodded, hiding her face into Bucky’s neck. 

He laid her down on her bed and began to quickly peel off her clothes, wanting to make this quick for her like the last time he saw her naked. Only a few moments later she was in a pull-up and a comfy sweat set and Bucky brought her back into the living room, resuming the position they had just comfortably been in. 

Bucky pressed play on another documentary, half paying attention as he held Kennedy close to his chest. The other half of him was just thinking about her, and how she made him feel. 

~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey, I’m hom- oh,” Steve goes to yell, but cuts himself off when he sees what’s going on on the couch. Bucky and Kennedy are still on the couch in the same position, and Kennedy is fast asleep in Bucky’s arms. Bucky gives Steve a sheepish smile, and Steve comes over to stand by the couch. “So, I take it you two have been getting along,” Steve states with a wide smile on his face. 

“Um, yeah,” Bucky breathes out quietly, not wanting to wake Kennedy up. “She’s been asleep for most of the afternoon though.” 

“Well, it’s almost dinner time. I was thinking chicken. You mind waking her up?” Steve asks, shrugging off his jacket and tossing it gently over a nearby chair. 

“But she’s -” Bucky started. Yes, he minded waking her up. She was all cute and comfy on his lap and he had no intention of changing that. 

“No ‘buts’, Buck. She’s a nightmare if she oversleeps. Trust me,” Steve says, chuckling as he cut off Bucky’s thought. “I’ll do it. She’s all yours later if you want, though,” Steve offered. Bucky nodded and released his arms from around Kennedy’s waist, allowing Steve to grab her. 

The moment Steve placed one arm under her legs and the other around her back, Kennedy tensed and grabbed onto Bucky, tight. “C’mon, Kennedy. You gotta wake up,” Steve argued, attempting to pull her away again. 

“Noooo,” Kennedy whined, “don’t wanna.” 

“It’s almost dinner,” Steve said, attempting to convince her. 

“Wan’ Bucky,” she said quietly, hiding her face away in Bucky’s neck, wrapping her arms around his neck tightly. Bucky looked up at Steve and panicked. He had no idea how to handle this. Kennedy had never chosen Bucky over Steve, nor did Bucky even think that was a possibility. Ever. 

Steve’s eyes flickered between Kennedy’s hidden face and Bucky’s. Eventually, Steve just let out a laugh and smirked at Bucky. “Well, looks like she wants you. Have fun waking up the little monster,” Steve said, still laughing, mostly to himself. Steve was honestly quite relieved about the whole situation. Firstly, he hated dealing with a sleepy Kennedy (especially when she was in little space), but he was also relieved that Bucky and Kennedy were friends. Actually, truly friends. 

Steve walked away to go into the kitchen to start dinner, shaking his head at himself because he knew the chaos that was about to ensure once Bucky got Kennedy awake. He already heard Kennedy begin whining again. Good luck, Buck. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Eventually, the two super soldiers wrangled Kennedy into bed and into a deep sleep. It was the first time Bucky had properly put Kennedy to bed while she was in little space and Steve showed him what to do. Which pajamas she liked the most. Where her blankie was. Where all her favorite stuffies were. She even had short crib extensions on the sides of her bed, not tall enough to be considered a crib, but just tall enough that she wouldn’t roll out by accident. It happened once and Steve had to talk to Tony about a new bed. The extensions were Tony’s design and Steve was forever grateful for them. 

Once they were both satisfied that she was asleep, the two left her room quietly and went out into the living room. Steve turned on the nightly news, something that had become a ritual for him once Kennedy was snuggly in bed. Bucky took a place beside him on the couch, but couldn’t help but feel a bit uncomfortable at the events that had played out earlier in the day. 

“Hey, Steve?” Bucky questioned, getting the attention of his friend. He gulped once he saw the bright blue eyes on him. He didn’t know how to say this, but damn he was going to try. “I’m sorry about earlier, with Kennedy. I know you two have a special thing and I don’t wanna get in between that. At all. So, yeah.” 

Steve let out a quiet chuckle. He couldn’t help it. In his head, Bucky really had nothing to apologize for. But Bucky was always apologizing for something these days, he felt like he had to. He felt like he had to make up for his time as the Winter Soldier somehow. But Steve wasn’t having any of it, not today. “Buck, it’s fine. I’m just glad you two are getting alone. Nothing wrong with that. So what if sometimes she wants you and not me? That’s her choice. I’ve always just been here to help her through it. Now you can be too,” Steve explained. 

“Y-yeah, okay,” Bucky stuttered out with a nob. He could handle that. Steve wasn’t mad at him and it was okay if Kennedy chose him sometimes. He could absolutely handle that.


	4. Chapter 4

The morning light was glimmering through Kennedy’s window as she stirred awake. She let out a groan, cursing Steve in her head for not shutting her blinds the night before. She tried to pull the blanket up over her face, but unfortunately she was awake now. She climbed out of her bed, almost having to hurdle over the crib extensions, and went to her wardrobe to pick an outfit for the day. Kennedy settled on comfortable clothes, not expecting to do much of anything, before she made her way out to the kitchen. 

Almost on auto-pilot, she made her way to the coffee pot and poured herself a cup. Someone must be awake if the coffee was already ready. She turned in place and her eyes met Steve’s, who was sitting at the table eating his own breakfast. 

“Well good morning to you, too sunshine,” Steve teased. 

“Morning,” Kennedy grumbled, taking a seat across from him. 

“You good to go into SHIELD today?” Steve asked. Although he knew she was far from little space, he had to ask. Suffering from mental health issues himself, he knew how difficult long days could be. So he always made sure to ask. 

Kennedy let out an exaggerated sigh. “Yeah. Do I even wanna know why?” She asked, raising her mug to her lips. 

“Fury,” was all Steve explained. That was all it took for her to roll her eyes. Anytime Fury was involved, it was sure to be an interesting day. 

Silently, they finished their breakfasts and Kennedy retreated to her room to change into proper work clothes and look more presentable, doing her hair and putting on the small amount of make-up she was used to on days like these. When she emerged from her room again, she noticed that Bucky’s door was still clothes. She furrowed her eyebrows and pushed it off. Kennedy just assumed he had a long, restless night and it was finally catching up on him. She knew how those nights could be; filled with tossing and turning and nightmares. 

She met Steve in the living room and they made their way down to the lavish garage of the Avengers Tower. Kennedy was finally feeling awake, so her and Steve were chatting the whole way down, mostly about mundane things and her predictions of what Fury wanted her for. Their chatter died down about halfway through the car ride, Steve focusing on the road and Kennedy focused on her own thoughts. Even in her sleepy state, she remembered what had happened yesterday. She pushed Steve away. She’s never done that before, in all their years of knowing each other. Kennedy felt guilty and she knew she couldn’t hide her emotions much longer, so she decided to spill it out. 

“Hey, Steve,” she said, garnering the attention of the super soldier. “I’m sorry about yesterday. I didn’t mean to push you away like that. That was unfair of me. You’ve taken care of me for so long, and I never want you to think I’m ungrateful of that for even a second. But, I don’t know, I guess,” she stopped her apology and bit her lip. How much did she want to say? Has she already said too much? 

“You guess, what?” Steve asked in a teasing way. He already knew what she wanted to say. She had feelings for Bucky. That was really the only explanation Steve had in his mind for her recent behavior. But he also knew she would never admit to it, not this soon anyways. Kennedy was a very private person, and even more private with her emotions, so it would take a lot to get her to admit much of anything. 

“I guess that I just have a weird connection with Bucky, I don’t know. It’s stupid,” Kennedy forced out with a sigh. Steve took a chance to steal a look at her, eyebrows raised with a smirk on his face and she stared back at him with a glare on her face. 

Steve let out a laugh at her expression and turned back to face the road. “Connection, huh? That’s a loaded word. But, if it makes you feel any better, I think he feels the same,” Steve told her. Kennedy could feel her heartbeat raise and a blush creep onto her cheeks at his words. Did Bucky really feel the same about her? Doubtful. But she stayed quiet, so Steve continued. “And it’s okay, really. I’m not mad about it. I’m glad you two are getting along and having this ‘connection’,” Steve mocked. 

“Steve, stop,” Kennedy whined back, immediately regretting telling him anything.

“But, seriously. I understand. Just do your best to keep me in the loop a little bit. I know it’s weird for you to talk about this kind of stuff, especially with me. I’m sure you’d rather talk to Natasha about boy stuff. But, just let me know if I’m overstepping on anything with you too, okay?” Steve asked. 

“Yeah, okay,” Kennedy said with a relieved sigh. Steve wasn’t mad at her. If anything, he was supportive of everything going on between her and Bucky. “But this isn’t ‘boy stuff’, it’s just different,” she argued. 

“Yeah, sure it is kiddo,” Steve said with a smirk that made her want to punch him right there in the car. She rolled her eyes and groaned at his response, turning her attention back out the window until she could see SHIELD's building come into view. 

~~~~~~~~~~

When Steve went to go find Kennedy at the end of the day, he could see just how stressed out she was. They had been texting throughout the day and she told Steve that Fury had her working on a “simple” decoding project. Except it wasn’t simple at all. She was supposed to just be in for the morning, but here she was, nearing 5pm and she was still sitting in her chair. 

“You almost ready to go?” Steve asked, sitting in the chair opposite her desk. 

“No,” Kennedy replied quietly, not looking away from the screen. She had been staring at it since 8am this morning. Her eyes were strained, her shoulders were almost permanently hunched over, and her back was screaming. Steve knew all of this just by looking at her. He knew he had to pull her away, it was time to go home for the day. He would never let her stay here all night and overwork herself. She had done enough for the day. 

“It’s time to go home, Kennie,” he said, placing his hand over her small one that rested on her mouse. 

“I’m almost done,” she replied shortly, yanking her hand out of his grasp. 

“Almost done or you’ll be here for five more hours?” Steve asked her, not giving up. 

Kennedy let out a shaky sigh, almost on the verge of tears. “I just wanna go home,” she said, now staring down at her lap. It was the first time she had looked away from her screen in what felt like hours, and her eyes were thanking her for it. 

“Then let’s go home, okay?” Steve suggested. 

“But Fury -”

“I don’t care what Fury says. I’m not letting you stay here like this. I can see how stressed you are. I’ll talk to him in the morning. So let’s go home?” Steve argued, cutting her off. 

Kennedy gave a small nod and stood up, finally stretching her limbs after a grueling day. She could feel herself slipping into little space by the second and all she wanted was to be home in her comfy clothes and curled up on the couch with her blankie. She looked up at Steve with her big green eyes and he immediately knew what she was thinking. He held his hand out for her and she took it without hesitation. She followed him blindly as he guided her back to the car, forcing herself not to put a thumb in her mouth or cling to him like her life depended on it. Finally, finally, she saw Steve’s car and let out a small sigh of relief. She was safe to be whatever she wanted to be now. They were going home. 

Halfway through the car ride, Kennedy was already curled up on herself with her thumb in her mouth in the passenger seat. Steve kept sneaking worried glances at her, wanting to assess just how deep in little space she was. If she had a really stressful day, much like today, she would tend to regress to a much younger age than usual. It wasn’t the worst day she had ever had, but the most stressful in a while so Steve just wanted to make sure. Kennedy seemed fine to him, just sleepy, so he let his eyes drift back to the road. 

Only minutes later, he heard a whine come from Kennedy’s mouth and turned to look at her. She was clearly asleep, but her whole body had tensed up. Steve’s eyes kept darting from the road and back to Kenendy’s sleeping form, until she saw her relax. But that’s when he noticed. She had an accident in her sleep. Her pants were soaked, as was the passenger seat. Nothing that couldn’t be cleaned, but Steve knew that Kennedy would feel terrible regardless. He quietly sighed to himself and sped up, wanting to get her home as quickly as possible. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Steve almost crashed as he sped into the parking garage of the Avengers Tower. He was usually a very careful driver, especially with a little Kennedy in the car, but she had woken up and was an absolute wreck. Upon waking up, she immediately recognized what had happened, and her big eyes turned to look at Steve and she began sobbing. She hadn’t stopped since. Steve needed to get her in the apartment; clean and safe. 

Steve swiftly parked and exited his side of the car in one motion. He raced to the passenger seat, swinging the door open with so much force he thought he might rip the door off the hinges, and scooped Kennedy up. 

“I sowwy, I sowwy,” Kennedy kept crying as he quickly made his way to the elevator, but was careful enough not to jostle the crying girl in his arms too much. 

“Shh, sweetheart. Can you calm down for me? We’re home now. Gonna get you upstairs and all cleaned up, okay?” Steve said to her once they were in the elevator, quickly speeding up to their floor. One good thing about JARVIS was that he simply seemed to know when there could be no stops along the way. 

Kennedy only nodded and cuddled into Steve further, tears still streaming down her face. 

Finally, finally, the elevator stopped at their floor and the doors opened. Steve rushed out and was only focused on getting Kennedy into her bathroom to give her a much needed, hopefully calming, bath. Kennedy just kept clinging to Steve, crying softly as he moved through the apartment. 

Upon hearing their arrival, Bucky excited his room for the first time in hours. “Hey guys, how was-oh,” Bucky cut himself short, finally seeing the image that was before him. 

“Long day,” Steve said, as he rushed past Bucky to get to Kennedy’s room. Bucky was stunned. Was this normal? Probably not. He was conflicted as to whether or not he should follow, but he opted to just retreat back into his room, leaving Steve to take care of Kennedy as he knew how to do so well. 

Steve got Kennedy into her bathroom and was attempting to sit her down on the counter, but she refused to let go of the tight grip she had around his neck. “Hey, hey,” Steve cooed softly, “you gotta let go, sweetheart. We gotta get you cleaned up. I’ll be with you the whole time, I promise.” 

Steve felt the grip loosen slightly and immediately took advantage of that. He was much stronger than her regardless, but he never wanted to push her no matter how much he needed or wanted her to do something. But this small sign of compliance was taken with stride as he moved her arms down to her sides and sat her down on the counter. 

“You think you can sit here for a minute while I get the bath ready?” Steve asked. Kennedy gave a slight nod and Steve rushed around the bathroom to get her bath ready. He turned on the water to the temperature he knew she liked, haphazardly poured the bubbles in the bath, and plunked a few of her favorite toys in the water for her. He was back in front of her in what seemed like a millisecond and she clung to him again. 

“I sowwy, Steve,” she said again, her face plastered into his shoulder, his shoulder getting wet with more tears. 

‘Steve’? Kennedy never called Steve ‘Steve’ when she was little. Something must be very, very wrong. In the beginning she did, when they were first trying this out. She was insecure about her needs, if Steve was really okay with taking care of her when she was like that. But with Steve’s constant reassurances, that he was okay with this, that taking care of her helped him too, she got more comfortable over time and he became ‘Daddy’. 

Steve’s mind briefly considered Bucky. Maybe she considered him to be Daddy now? Maybe they had more of a connection than Steve had previously assumed? But there was no way. No way that Kennedy would trust such a fragile part of herself with someone so new to her life. It had taken Steve months, and Bucky had only been here for a few weeks. No way. 

“It’s okay. I’m not mad or upset, Kennie. You had a long day and it caught up with you. You’re okay. You’re home now. I’m just gonna get you all cleaned up, okay?” Steve reassured her, pushing his thoughts from his mind in order to focus on making sure Kennedy was okay. 

Kennedy nodded into his shoulder and practically melted into him. Steve held her up as best as he could as he began undressing her. This was nothing new to them, Kennedy having been naked in front of Steve countless times in moments like this. So she simply let him take control of the situation and take care of her just like she needed in this moment. 

Steve softly placed her into the water once she was undressed and he felt and saw her completely relax. He carefully cleaned her up, talking to her softly all the way through. He just wanted her to relax and stop crying, just wanted her to feel okay. 

He got her out of the tub and wrapped her in a fluffy towel, the ones he knew she adored. She giggled weakly as he rubbed her down, purposefully tickling her in order to make her smile. 

Finally, she was on her bed and fully changed for the night; wrapped up in her most comfy pajamas and a diaper. 

“You feelin’ better?’ Steve asked as he brushed her hair. 

“Mmm,” Kennedy purred back, leaning into Steve’s gentle touches. 

“Good, I’m glad. How does dinner sound?”

“Good,” Kennedy replied sweetly. 

“How do chicken nuggets sound?”

~~~~~~~~~~

Dinner was served and fed, and Kennedy was cuddled up against Steve watching her favorite movie; Oliver and Company. It was a forgotten movie that Disney had produced in the late 80’s, but it was Kennedy’s favorite. It was a movie she had grown up with, so it was comfortable and easy for her.

Bucky had mostly stayed in his room, only coming out to eat dinner, and even then he didn’t talk much. He felt awkward. He didn’t know what to do. He wanted to help, god knows how he wanted to help. Wanted to coddle and cuddle Kennedy until she was okay again, but he just didn’t know how. So he left it to Steve, who took his role so easily. 

Even though they were almost done with the movie, Steve could feel Kennedy’s body weight going lax against him. It was time to call it a night. 

“Hey, Kennie,” he said, just loudly enough to get her to stir to consciousness again, “you think it’s time for bed?”

“Mhm,” Kennedy whined out in reply, pliant in Steve’s arms. 

Steve effortlessly scooped her up and led her to her bedroom for the second time that day. She perked up a bit as they passed Bucky’s door, but Steve didn’t notice as his sight was laser focused on getting Kennedy into her bed. 

Steve managed to get Kennedy into bed, wrapped up in her favorite blankets with her favorite stuffed cat. “Need anything else before you go to bed, sweetheart?” Steve asked, brushing her hair out of her face. 

Kennedy thought for a moment. Even in little space, she still knew exactly what she needed without Steve having to tell her. She doubted Steve even knew. “Wanna say night to Da-Bucky,” Kennedy finally got out. 

Oh. She almost called him Daddy. That’s where this is going. 

Steve gave a small smile and asked, “You want me to go get him?” 

Kennedy gave an enthusiastic nod, and Steve went to do just that. Steve didn’t even know if Bucky wanted to be involved with Kennedy on a day like today, but he was going to do everything in his power to make her feel okay. He always did. 

Steve knocked on Bucky’s door maybe a little too hard, but he was on a mission. Moments later, as if he had been waiting, Bucky swung the door open. Before Bucky could even get a breath out of his mouth, Steve said “Kennedy wants to say goodnight to you.” 

Bucky nodded and followed Steve wordlessly. He was just happy he was asked to be involved. 

The pair entered Kennedy’s bedroom where she was still awake, waiting for Bucky. 

“Hey, doll,” Bucky said, sitting down on the bed next to her. 

“Hi,” she said shyly, poorly attempting to hide her face in her pillows. 

“You wanted me to come say goodnight?” Bucky asked, stroking her arm softly. 

“Mhm,” Kennedy let out, finally meeting Bucky’s strong gaze. They both instantly melted. “Stay,” she quietly begged. 

Bucky looked to Steve, almost seeking approval for what they both knew he was about to say. Steve gave him a small nod and a smile and instantly retreated from the room, leaving just Bucky and very vulnerable Kennedy. 

“I can stay, doll. Are you sure that’s what you want?” Bucky asked, his touch from her arm not letting up. 

“Yeah,” Kennedy said, eyes beginning to droop finally after her long and stressful day. 

“O-okay,” Bucky said, lifting the blankets and laying down beside her. “I’ll stay as long as you want.” 

Bucky never wanted to impose himself on her, especially when he knew she was so fragile, but she asked so he complied readily. Kennedy immediately curled into Bucky’s strong chest and let out a relieved sigh. It just felt right. 

“You going to sleep, doll?” Bucky asked quietly, his hands sneaking around her waist to hold her close. 

He felt Kennedy nod against him, indicating that she was very much on her way to dreamland. 

“Okay, goodnight princess,” he said, kissing the top of her head gently.

It had felt right in the moment, but just seconds afterwards Bucky panicked. Was it too much? Did she not feel the same? She would probably hate him after this, for taking advantage of her in such a vulnerable state. 

Bucky’s thoughts were pushed out of his head when Kennedy cuddled closer, obviously wanting this just as much as him. At least in this state. 

“Night night, Da-” Kennedy froze. Even in her state, she knew she didn’t want to do that. Not yet, anyway. She hadn’t even told him how she really felt yet. It was just too soon. “Night, Bucky,” she finished, praying that he didn’t hear her slip. 

He did. He sure as hell did. His chest, and heart, seized for a moment when he thought she was going to say it. But she didn’t. She caught herself, but it was a moment too late. And it would be a moment Bucky would cling on to for as long as he was in her presence.

“Goodnight, doll,” he finally said, pulling her closer. 

As she fell asleep in his arms, he couldn’t stop thinking about her small slip. What did that mean? Did she consider him ‘Daddy’ now? If so, why? He had only truly taken care of her once. After his talk with Steve, he knew that a small amount of time could not be sufficient enough to allow Kennedy to trust him with this part of her completely. But what if she did? 

Bucky’s thoughts swirled as he went to bed, but in a much more peaceful way than usual. He was used to violent images and terrifying nightmares, but with Kennedy all of that slipped away. He was going to sleep good tonight, with Kennedy wrapped in his arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Oliver and Company is my favorite Disney movie and if you know it, I automatically LOVE you. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. This one was kind of a tough one for me because I was trying to convey the friendship between Steve and Kennedy while conveying the slow burn romance between Bucky and our lil Kennie. It's a lot. If you're still reading, thank you so much!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kennedy and Bucky are just two helpless idiots in love.

It had been almost a week since that stressful day at SHIELD. Since Kennedy almost called Bucky ‘Daddy’. And she was miserable. 

Kennedy went back to SHIELD the next day and the next, and the next, as if nothing happened, and continued to work herself to the bone. Steve would dutifully come to collect her at the end of the day, forcing her out of her work, but she barely spoke on their car rides home. She was stressed beyond belief, and Steve was doing her best to help her, but she refused any help he offered. 

At home, it was quite without Kennedy’s constant presence. She kept to her room, doing god knows what. Mostly, she had been binge watching shows, a poor attempt at distracting herself. 

She was embarrassed. I mean sure, she had an accident in Steve’s car, but that was the least of her worries. That was easily fixable. She was more worried about the situation with Bucky. She didn’t trust herself around him anymore, especially when she was little. She was too vulnerable when she was little, would just say whatever came to her mind, and Kennedy refused to let herself do that until she had all of her emotions back in order. 

She wanted to let her walls down, she really did, but it was just too hard. She had been through a lot in the past. A lot of abuse, trauma, negativity. It seemed to haunt her, no matter where she went. She didn’t want to let her walls down for Bucky, a relative stranger in her life. She didn’t want to risk more hurt. 

And she knew Bucky was dealing with trauma of his own. Coming back to normal life was a difficult adjustment for him, and she didn’t want to add anymore confusion. She was keeping her walls up for both of them. Or at least trying to. She was really trying. 

Steve and Bucky had both noticed how miserable she had become over the past few days. She wasn’t her normal, bubbly, fun self right now. What was more concerning was that Steve hadn’t seen her like this in ages. It had been a long time since she closed up on herself like this. Steve, or Natasha, or Sam were always there to get her out of her rut, but nothing seemed to work this this time. She was stubbornly set on staying miserable in their opinions. 

It was late on a Saturday afternoon when she finally emerged from her room to look for something to eat. It had been quiet in the apartment, so she figured the two super soldiers had left for a while, but she was sorely mistaken when she was met with both of them sitting quietly at the kitchen table. Kennedy ignored them and went straight to the fridge, fully intending making her lunch and going back into her room without a word. But the boys had other plans. 

That morning, they had agreed to at least try to get her to talk. They were both becoming increasingly worried. Even Bucky could see that something was very, very wrong with Kennedy. They had just been waiting for her to leave her room, knowing she’d get hungry eventually. 

“Kennedy, will you please just talk to us?” Steve asked gently, his eyes laser focused on the back of her head, almost willing her to turn around. 

“About what?” Kennedy asked shortly, pulling meat and cheese out of the refrigerator. 

“We can’t help but notice something is going on. You’ve been distant. You don’t come out of your room unless you need to eat. You haven’t spoken to either one of us in days. What’s going on?” Steve explained, not taking his eyes away from her. 

“Nothing. I’m fine,” Kennedy lied, not taking her eyes off of the sandwich she was making. 

Steve sighed. Clearly Kennedy was still hell bent on whatever she was doing, or attempting to do, and nothing Steve said was working. But he wasn’t backing down from this fight. “We all know that’s a lie Kennedy. Somethings wrong. Just tell us,” Steve said, putting on his best Captain America voice, hoping it would make her crack. 

The room was quiet for a moment besides the rustling of the bags of deli meat and cheese. Bucky and Steve shared a worried glance, unsure if her silence was good or bad. Steve turned his attention back to her and was slowly getting fed up with her drawn out silence. 

“Kennedy-,” he started again, but she quickly cut him off. 

“You’re right? Okay?” Kennedy shouted, whipping around from her spot at the counter to face him. “I’m not fine! Is that what you wanted to hear? I’m not! But that doesn’t mean I have to fucking talk about it! So just leave me alone!” 

With that, Kennedy stormed out of the kitchen and back down the hallway. The slam from her door shook the ground, but after that the apartment turned back to silence. Steve started at the doorway in which she disappeared from, shocked. She’d never blown up on him like that. Not at home, not in the field, never. She was typically patient, well put together, calm. Not flying off the hinges. 

Bucky was staring at the ground in between his feet, unsure of if he wanted to get involved or not. He knew Steve and Kennedy had a good friendship, one that screaming at eachother wasn’t a part of. Would his intervention in this even matter? Nothing seemed to be helping Kennedy, so he doubted he could. So he chose to stay quiet. 

Steve finally let out a sigh, resigned to the fact that Kennedy wouldn’t talk to him. “Well,” he started, turning his attention to Bucky, “she won’t talk to me. Maybe she’ll talk to you?” Steve suggested. 

“You think so?” Bucky asked. He definitely didn’t think she would, but Steve knew her better than he did. 

“Maybe. It can’t hurt to try. It can’t make anything worse than it already is.”

“Yeah, yeah, okay. I’ll at least bring her her lunch. I’m not gonna force her to talk to me,” Bucky said, standing up to go finish the sandwich Kennedy had started making before she hastily abandoned it. 

Minutes later, he found himself hesitating in front of her door. She probably wouldn’t even let him in. Regardless, he raised his flesh hand and gently knocked three times. 

“Kennedy, it’s just Bucky. I just wanted to bring you your lunch,” he explained through the door, hoping her hunger would get the better of her. He waited for a long moment and let out a relieved breath that he didn’t know he had been holding when she swung the door open slightly. “Can I come in?” Bucky asked, finally making eye contact with her. She nodded and opened the door further, letting him in. 

He followed to her bed and sat down facing her, placing the plate in between them. She was quietly staring at her blanket, keeping her hands busy by plucking some lint off of it.

“You don’t have to talk to me, but we just wanna know you’re okay. We’re both here for you if you need to talk. Okay?” Bucky began. He saw her give a small nod, so he continued. “And we’ve been through similar stuff, so if you need someone who can relate to you, you’re more than welcome to come talk to me whenever.”

Kennedy wanted to stay quiet, stay closed off, but she felt the words coming out of her mouth before she could stop them. “It’s not about that,” she admitted, quietly. 

“Oh. Okay. If you don’t mind me asking, what is this about, then? You don’t have to answer. But it can’t hurt to talk about it. That’s what my therapist has been telling me anyways. It’s always better to get it off your chest than keep it in, no matter how small it feels,” Bucky rambled. 

Kennedy huffed out a laugh at his concern. He had no idea that this was all about him. Her distance. Her quietness. Her irritability. It was all because of him. Not that he did anything wrong. In fact, he did everything right. Almost too right. He was patient, he cared, he looked at her as if she held the world in her precious little hands. 

“It’s stupid,” Kennedy managed to get out, still refusing to look up at him. She knew if she did, it would be all over in a matter of seconds. She would tell him she liked him. Hell, maybe she even loved him. There was no way he looked at her in the same way. No way he liked this stupid, moody, difficult girl back. 

“I doubt it is if it has you this wound up. Can you try to tell me?” 

Kennedy let out a laugh. She had to laugh. Here she was, depressed and moody over trying to keep this man at an arm's length all week, yet he was the one attempting to comfort her. 

“What’s so funny?” Bucky asked, concern dripping from his voice. For a moment, he was worried she was having some type of mental breakdown. He was definitely not equipped to deal with that. Just when he began to panic, she looked up at him for the first time since he entered the room. She wasn’t smiling, but he could see a glint in her eyes. Maybe she was finally okay? Or was she about to cry? He wasn’t sure, but he knew she was about to talk, which was a win in his eyes no matter what. 

“It’s not, really, I guess. But this whole week, this whole time I’ve been mopping and moody, was because I was trying to stay away from you. But here you are, trying to get me to talk,” she said, suddenly very serious and quiet again. 

“So,” Bucky started, trying to choose his next words wisely, “I’m the problem?” 

Kennedy let out a sigh. She could see the hurt and confusion in his eyes. She knew she needed to explain this to him. She had already let out too much, and leaving it here would only make things worse. With a shaky breath, she began explaining. 

“Yeah, but, it’s not in a bad way. You didn’t do anything wrong. Please believe me when I say that. You did everything right. Too right. You’ve been great since the moment I met you. And that scares me. I don’t let people in easily, but you managed to break down my walls in a matter of weeks. It scares me. It scares me that I trust you this much. Usually it takes me months, years even. But you managed to break me down in a few weeks. So I’ve been trying to keep my distance. And I don’t trust myself when I’m in little space. I’m too vulnerable, I say too much. I know you’d never take advantage of that, I trust you, but I just can’t trust myself.”

Bucky was quiet for a moment, taking everything in. She’d been staying away from him, making herself miserable, for what? 

“So you’ve been staying away from me, for what?” He asked quietly.

Did she dare tell him? Could it ruin their friendship that they built? Steve said that he might feel the same, but she highly doubted that. But she felt like she owed him an explanation. This did concern him after all. 

“Because, because I, um,” she paused, chancing a look at him. He looked back at her with concern and, was that, adoration? No. Couldn’t be. She swallowed and pressed on, forcing herself to tell him the truth. “Because I like you. Like, I actually developed feelings for you and that scares me like hell. But I don’t want to, so that’s why I’ve been staying away.” 

“Oh,” was all Bucky said for a long moment. She felt the same? But she didn’t want to like him? He was confused, but he just wanted to make things right. He had already been staying in what was previously her very happy home with Steve, and his presence was making her life worse. He didn’t want to do that. He didn’t want to ruin things anymore.

“I can, I can leave, if that would be easier for you. I can find somewhere else to stay, it’ll be-”

“What?” Kennedy scoffed and looked at him straight in the eyes, her heart slightly breaking for him. “Bucky, no, please. This is your home now too. You don’t have to go anywhere. Please don’t feel like you have to leave. Especially because of me. I’ll be okay. I will, I promise. I’ve been thinking of going to stay with Nat for a few days, anyway. Just to clear my head. Okay?” 

“O-okay,” Bucky replied, nodding. “If that’s what you want.” 

“It’s the best thing for all of us right now,” Kennedy said with a sigh. Kennedy didn’t want to leave, but she couldn’t stay here and keep making Steve and Bucky worry. She just needed a few days to clear her head. “And thank you, for lunch.” 

“Yeah, of course,” Bucky said, forcing himself to get up from her bed. He wanted to stay and talk with her. Let her know he felt the same. But she didn’t seem to want that. She didn’t want to have feelings for him, and he respected that. He wasn’t going to push himself on her. When he reached the door he turned around, taking one last look at her. “So, I’ll see you in a few days?” He asked, hopeful. 

“Yeah. Bye, Bucky,” she said, finally turning to her forgotten sandwich. With that, he shut the door, hoping, praying, things could go back to normal soon. 

~~~~~~~~~~

“You really are hopeless, Ken,” Natasha said to Kennedy after getting the full explanation of what happened just floors above her. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Kennedy said, raising her eyebrows with a laugh. Natasha could always get Kennedy to laugh, no matter how low she felt. They had known each other for years, been with each other in their best and worst moments, and this felt no different. 

“Well,” Natasha started with her signature smirk, “you’re clearly in love with the kid but you won’t let yourself be happy.” 

“In love? Yeah, right,” Kennedy scoffed at the idea. In love? With a man she recently met? No way. 

“Seriously, Kennedy. Why won’t you just let yourself be happy?” Natasha asked, suddenly serious. 

“I am happy. I don’t need a man for me to be happy,” Kennedy lied, hoping the red head across from her wouldn’t notice. Of course she did. 

“You know I know you’re lying. Of course you don’t need a man to be happy, but regardless of that, Bucky makes you happy. Being around him makes you happy. Hell, even letting your walls down for him makes you happy even if you don’t want to. Just let him make you happy,” Natasha said, taking a long sip of her wine afterwards. 

“What if he doesn’t want that?” Kennedy asked, feeling suddenly even more insecure about the situation than before. 

Natasha let out a loud laugh and looked at Kennedy incredulously. Kennedy met her eye, letting Natasha know her question was said with all seriousness. Natasha’s laugh died down, and she looked at Kennedy with a smirk.

“You really think he doesn’t like you?” 

“Well, I don’t know,” Kennedy said, eyes moving towards the shimmering wine glass in her hands. 

“Your years of training are suddenly failing you, I guess. Because he makes it damn well obvious. So do you. You’re usually so observant. I’m shocked you haven’t noticed yourself,” Natasha replied coolly. 

“What do you mean he makes it obvious?” Kennedy asked, perking up as her interest narrowed in. 

Natasha laughed again and gave Kennedy a sweet smile. Natasha knew the two were made for eachother. Her and Steve had been watching them over the past few weeks, hoping the two of them could make it work themselves. But clearly they were both stupid, helpless idiots when it came to matters of love, so they’d both need the extra push. 

“Ken, he looks at you like you’re the only person in the room. Like the only person in the whole world sometimes. I’ve never seen something quite like it. He’s in love with you. He cares about you so much. Maybe even more than Steve sometimes. His body language around you just screams that he wants to touch you, hug you, anything. And he’s constantly looking at your lips. He wants to kiss you. Everything he does is so obvious. How have you, who has been trained to notice things like this, not noticed?” Natasha explained. 

Kennedy felt herself melt when Natasha was talking. Maybe it was just the wine talking, but she wanted nothing more than to do all of those things. Touch Bucky, hug Bucky, kiss Bucky. Maybe she was in love? No. She didn’t want that. But she did, she really did. Wanted to just let go and let herself love Bucky. But she was so scared of being hurt. Kennedy didn’t know how much more hurt she could take in her life, and she didn’t want to find out. 

“I just don’t want to get hurt,” Kennedy admitted weakly, taking a small sip of her wine. 

“You’re hurting yourself more by pushing him away. And you’re hurting him. These walls that you’ve built up aren’t helping you anymore. They’ve protected you long enough. Let him in. I know you want to. He won’t hurt you. He’s a good guy. And if he does, you have me, and Steve, and Sam, and a whole other slue of badass people who will gladly kick his ass for you,” Natasha said, trying to bring some reassurance to her friend. 

“You’re probably right,” Kennedy conceited. 

“I know I am. So you’re gonna go home in a few days and talk to him. Okay?” Natasha asked with a smile. Kennedy nodded. Maybe this could work. 

~~~~~~~~~~

While Kennedy and Natasha talked over a bottle of wine, the super soldiers were taking out their frustration in the gym. 

Steve was frustrated that he couldn’t get through to Kennedy. He was always able to get her to talk, one way or another, but she refused to budge. It bothered him. He was supposed to be one of her best friends. What kind of best friend was he if she felt like she couldn’t talk to him? 

And Bucky was frustrated at the whole situation. He felt as if he had ruined yet another good thing, but they kept telling he didn’t. But didn’t he? Kennedy didn’t even want to be around him, and he felt as though he caused a rift between Steve and Kennedy. And he just wanted Kennedy to want him the way he wanted her. He developed his own feelings for her over the past few weeks, but he was skilled at swallowing his own emotions for the sake of others. So when Kennedy told him she didn’t want to have feelings for him, he didn’t even think to tell her he felt the same. He didn’t want to ruin things any further. 

“You ready to talk to me about it yet?” Steve asked Bucky, leaving the punching bag for a moment. 

The two had barely spoken a word since Bucky came out of Kennedy’s room, they had simply both just agreed to go down to the gym. They both clearly needed a stress relief, and Bucky hadn’t been ready to talk yet. He wasn’t sure he ever would be. He just didn’t know how to talk about emotions anymore. Years of having them ripped away from you would do that to a person. 

“I don’t know if there’s anything to talk about,” Bucky said back before taking a long swig of water. 

“Well clearly she talked to you. And something she said got to you. So what is it?” Steve asked, not letting up. If he couldn’t get Kennedy to talk to him, he sure as hell was going to try to get Bucky to fess up. 

Bucky sighed, knowing it would all come out eventually anyways. “She said this was all about me. Because she has feelings for me. But she doesn’t want to,” Bucky said, plopping himself down on a nearby bench in defeat. 

“And how do you feel?” Steve asked, taking a seat on the bench across from his sulking friend. 

“Well, I don’t know. I guess I do feel the same way. I just don’t know how to talk about it. Or talk to her about it. Especially now that she said she doesn’t want me. She said she was scared of having feelings. I guess I am too,” Bucky explained honestly. 

“You really are hopeless, Buck,” Steve said with a grin. Bucky looked up and raised an eyebrow at the blond. “You’re both very clearly in love with eachother, the both of you are just too stupid to do anything about it.” 

“I’m not stupid, Steve,” Bucky said, standing up agan. “But she said she doesn’t want me, so I’m not gonna push it.”

“Just do me a favor? Try to talk to her when she gets back? I’m sure she’ll feel a little different,” Steve asked. 

“Yeah, I guess,” Bucky sighed. “I just don’t want to fuck things up again.” 

“What do you mean?” Steve asked, voice full of concern. 

“I fuck everything up. I’m fucked up, Steve. I’m literally learning how to be a person again,” Bucky started, sitting back down with his head in his hands. “I just don’t want to fuck up her life, or yours, more than I already have.” 

“First of all, you haven’t fucked anything up. She’s just trying to deal with emotions she hasn’t felt in a long, long time. It’s not your fault how she decides to act. And you haven’t fucked anything up in my life. You know how I feel about you being back. And second of all, you won’t fuck anything up by just talking to her. She’s patient. And she likes you regardless of her feelings for you. You know, just as a person. She’ll hear you out, I promise.” 

“I just don’t want to hurt her,” said Bucky weakly, not looking up. 

“You won’t. The person that you think you are, it isn’t you. You’re not what you used to be. You’re a good man Bucky, and she sees that. We all do. And I know this is all new for you again. But this can be part of your new life. She can be a part of your new life,” Steve said, practically begging to make Bucky see the truth of the matter. “Like I said, she’s patient. She knows what you’re going through. You just need to be honest with her. Hell, I don’t even think she knows that you like, no matter how many times I try to tell her.” 

“You told her what!?” Bucky asked suddenly, looking up at Steve with shock written all over his face. 

Steve let out a loud laugh before he explained. “You think we don’t all notice? I had to say something!” He defended. “And I knew how she felt, a little bit, so I figured I’d tell her to see where things went. But clearly you both need a little help in the love department. So, please, just talk to her? I can’t watch you two do this anymore.” Steve begged. 

“Fine, I’ll talk to her when she’s ready to talk,” Bucky said, a little edge of hopefulness in his voice. Maybe, just maybe, this could work.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kennedy comes back home.

It had been a few days since Kennedy had disappeared to Natasha’s, and the boys haven’t heard a word from her. Natasha had kept Steve updated though. Kennedy was going better. There was a smile back on her face, and hope in her eyes that maybe everything would turn out how she wanted it to. She could maybe, maybe let herself be happy. 

Steve was worried, but he was happy for her regardless. He knew she needed space, but this was the longest he went without seeing her in years, despite longer missions. He missed her being around. Missed having his best friend. Missed taking care of her, even if she was difficult sometimes. 

And Bucky seemed to be doing well too, according to Steve. And he was. The space proved to be good for him, too. It gave him time to think about things and sort himself out. He was nervous to see Kennedy again, but he was awaiting her arrival regardless. He didn’t know how he’d feel when he finally saw her, though. He was still hurt by her words. Maybe she would come back and only want to be friends. Maybe she never wanted to speak with him again. Those were the thoughts that kept him up at night, different than the usual images of violence and murder. 

In the days that Kennedy had been staying at Natasha’s, she kept refusing to let herself slip into little space. Natasha didn’t question it, but she knew how this was going to end. On mission, it was different. Kennedy had something else to focus her attention on. Just being in Natasha’s apartment, not doing much of anything, wasn’t keeping her occupied. Natasha had told Steve about this, and he was worried too. He knew this could only end in tears. 

And that’s exactly what happened. 

It was late at night, not too late though, because Steve was still awake in his room. He was watching a movie Sam had told him about, Good Will Hunting, before he went to sleep. It was quiet in the apartment as Bucky had already retreated to his own room for the night, probably trying to fall asleep. 

Midway through the movie, Steve saw JARVIS’ light turn on in his room, indicating that JARVIS was either watching, or was about to say something. 

“Captain Rogers, sorry to alarm you at such a late hour, but Ms. Acker needs you downstairs,” JARVIS announced. 

Steve immediately jumped out of bed, throwing on his slippers and heading for the door. “Is everything okay?” He asked JARVIS as he whipped down the hallways at an inhumane speed. 

“She seems to be having a breakdown, and she has requested your presence. Agent Romanoff is with her now,” JARVIS said, clearly he had been tracking Steve down the hallway. 

The elevator ride was quick, as JARVIS knew how to do best. The doors opened to Natasha’s apartment and Steve stormed in. He could already hear Kennedy’s cries from the living room, and followed them to one of Natasha’s guest rooms. 

He entered the room without knocking, too busy being worried to care if he alarmed them. He was met with the sight of Kennedy, curled in a ball in the middle of the bed, shaking and sobbing while Natasha held her close to her chest, petting her hair uselessly. 

“Oh, sweetheart,” Steve said, swooping down onto the bed on Kennedy’s other side. He grabbed her gently from Natasha and cradled her rigid body against his. “What happened?” He asked softly, brushing her tear soaked hair out of her face. 

“W-wanna go home,” Kennedy cried, pushing her face into Steve’s chest as she wailed. Natasha and Steve shared a worried glance over the top of Kennedy’s head. Clearly, she had pushed herself too far, for too long. She had been stressed for days, and she finally reached her breaking point. 

“Okay, we can do that. You just gotta calm down for me a little bit and then I’ll bring you right upstairs and you can be in your own bed. Okay?”

“Stay with you?” Kennedy asked, looking up at Steve with pitiful tears still streaming down her face. 

“Of course you can stay with me if that's what you want,” Steve told her with a small smile. That seemed to calm her down a bit, as she cuddled closer into Steve and stopped her loud sobs. Steve breathed a sigh of relief and collected his thoughts. “Thank you, Nat, for letting her stay. I’ll be back tomorrow to come get her stuff.” Steve said sincerely as he stood up from the bed, carefully balancing Kennedy is his arms. 

“It was no problem. You know I love her just as much as you do. Now get her home,” Natasha said, shooing him out of the door and down the hallway. They exchanged goodnights as Steve entered the elevator, and even Kennedy gave a weak goodnight before the doors closed. 

“You have a good time with Nat?” Steve asked, trying to lighten the mood as the elevator sped back up to their floor. 

“Mhm,” was all he got back, before Kennedy shoved her thumb in her mouth and nuzzled into Steve’s chest. He smiled down at her, finally happy to have his best friend back in some capacity. He had missed her like hell, and maybe she’d leave again in the morning, but he was happy to spend any time with her. 

Steve quietly made his way through the living room and down the hallway to his room, before placing a sleepy Kennedy on his bed. “Let’s get you changed and let's sleep, okay?” He asked her, rubbing her arm gently to keep her awake. 

“Otay,” Kennedy replied, focused solely on cuddles and sleep. 

Steve did just that with ease and placed her under the covers gently. “We’ll talk in the morning, okay? Now go to sleep,” Steve said calmly as he crawled under the blankets with her. 

He knew they still needed to talk about things. He wasn’t mad that she had screamed at him, but he was frustrated that he felt like she couldn’t talk to him. But he was still the one she called for when she was crying in the middle of the night. That was worth something, right? 

Kennedy tucked herself into his side as he slung one strong arm around her and she finally drifted off to sleep without a care in the world, just happy she was home, and with Steve. Safe. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Bucky awoke the next morning, unaware of the events the night before. Steve and Kennedy were still peacefully sleeping, so the apartment was quiet. Bucky was hungry and decided it was well past time to make breakfast, so he slipped on a hoodie and left his room. 

He quickly made his way to the kitchen, and noticed that Steve hadn’t woken up yet. The coffee wasn’t made as it usually was, there were no dishes in the sink, and no sign that Steve had touched the kitchen that morning. Odd. Bucky knew Steve was an early rising, almost ungodly early. Something had to have happened last night or this morning that forced Steve to either be in the bed, or have rushed out the door without a look back. 

Concerned, Bucky put his breakfast plans on hold and made his way to the hallway where Steve’s room was. As he got closer to the door, he heard light snores, indicating that Steve was still very much asleep. It was 9 in the morning. Why on Earth would Steve still be asleep? 

Quietly, he opened the door, expecting just to see a sleeping Steve, but he was met with a sleeping Steve and Kennedy. They were all cuddled up, Kennedy’s face tucked against Steve’s chest and his arms were wrapped around her tightly. 

What? 

This was the last thing that Bucky had expected to see. When did Kennedy even come back? What happened? Why had no one even thought to tell him? Suddenly, and very unwarranted, he felt himself fill with a boiling rage. 

He stormed from the room, leaving the door propped open still, and went right back into his room, slamming the door shut behind him. He cringed at the noise, knowing it was sure to wake them up, but he couldn’t help feeling angry about what he saw. Steve knew how he felt, yet there he was wrapped in bed with Kennedy. How dare he? And how dare he not tell him she was back? Bucky was fuming, and he knew he shouldn’t be this angry about it. There must be some good explanation for this. Steve wouldn’t just do this to him. The rational part of his brain knew that, but his emotions couldn’t help overlooking that. 

Steve woke up to the sound of a door booming shut. Slowly, he opened his eyes, looking around the room. Kennedy was still fast asleep in his arms, the clock read 9am, and his door was open. He knew he shut it last night. Who was in his- oh. Bucky. Fuck. That would explain the slam. Bucky was pissed. Steve hadn’t even thought to tell Bucky that Kennedy was back, too concerned with making sure that she was okay last night. He would have just told him in the morning, if he had woken up on time. But now Bucky saw them cuddled together, and was most likely fuming about the situation. 

Steve let out a groan and gently untangled himself from Kennedy, careful not to wake her up. He placed a pillow where his chest had been and slowly crept out of the room. Steve could still practically hear the slam from the door ringing when he made his way out into the living room. The mood of the apartment was clearly tense. 

He made his way down the opposite hallway where Kennedy and Bucky’s rooms were and slowly approached Bucky’s door and knocked twice. He heard a huff on the other side of the door, but it opened moments later regardless. “What?” Bucky said gruffly as he turned around to stalk to his door again. 

“Was that you that slammed your door by any chance?” Steve asked, leaning against the door frame, arms crossed. 

Bucky only gave him a frustrated laugh and sat down on the bed. 

“Look, I know you came into my room and saw me and Kennie. But it’s not what you think. Kennedy slipped into little space last night and I had to go get her, and she wanted to stay with me, so she did,” Steve explained. 

“I wasn’t thinking anything about it,” Bucky argued, clearly lying. 

“Yeah, sure ya didn’t. Why won’t you just admit it?” Steve said, already fed up with Bucky’s antics. 

“There’s nothing to admit. I slammed the door on accident,” Bucky argued again. 

“Whatever, Buck. But she’s back now, so talk to her when you’re both ready,” Steve finished, pushing himself off of the doorway and walked back down the hallway. 

Bucky rolled his eyes and flopped down on the bed. He kind of felt better. At least he got an explanation for why Kennedy was in Steve’s bed. But it didn’t help the fact that he was still upset that no one told him she was back, or why until he threw a fit about it. 

Bucky decided from that moment on that he would stay in his room for the day. He knew he couldn’t shake the bad mood that quickly, and he was in no mood to talk about his feelings. So he’d just stay in his room. 

~~~~~~~~~~

For the rest of the day, it was a Steve and Kennedy day, just like it used to be. He made her a late breakfast, technically brunch by the time he decided to wake her up, and then spent the day out in the living room. They watched some of her favorite shows, and when she inevitably got bored of that, she moved to the floor to color. Either way, she was staying very close to Steve, almost refusing to let him out of her sight. He didn’t mind, he was happy that she was back home and would always do whatever she required of him. He kept a close eye on her, to ensure that she was okay, and she seemed to be doing just fine. This was exactly what she needed, to be home and let herself go. She had nothing to worry about when Steve was taking care of her, just the way he wanted it to be. 

That all lasted until 2pm, when Steve got a call from Coulson requesting his presence at SHIELD. He tried to push it off, tried to get them to not make him come in, but it seemed important, so he had to go. With a sigh, he put the phone down and turned to Kennedy. 

“Hey, Kennie, I gotta go for a few hours, but I’ll be right back home. Bucky’s here, if you want, or I could call Nat or Sam to come stay with you,” Steve said, giving her options. 

“Bucky,” she said, her head perking up with a smile on her face. She had missed him and was excited to see him again. She hadn’t quite understood why she hadn’t seen him yet that day, didn’t understand that he had been in his room for hours. She didn’t question it, either. It wasn’t her concern, when she was little. If something was wrong, Steve would fix it. 

“Okay, I’ll go get him,” Steve said, standing up from the couch and making his way down the hallway for the second time that day. 

He knocked on Bucky’s door with a new urgency. He had to go and he had to make sure that Kennedy was going to be okay for a few hours. “What?” Bucky asked, opening the door before Steve could slam on it again. 

“I have to go to SHIELD for a few hours, but I’ll be back for dinner. Can you watch Kennedy?” Steve explained quickly.

“Yeah, sure,” Bucky said with no ounce of enthusiasm. Sure, he was happy to see her, but he wasn’t exactly up for people today, his bad mood still lingering from that morning. 

“Thank you,” Steve said, sincerely. “But, I gotta run. I’ll see you in a few hours.” 

Steve disappeared from the doorway, leaving Bucky to collect himself for going into the living. He took a few minutes to try and shake the bad mood off, knowing it would be bad if he was mean to Kennedy in any way, and he did his best, but the sour taste in his mouth was still there when he came out into the living room. 

“Bucky!” Kennedy exclaimed, jumping up upon his entrance and ran towards him, full speed. She jumped up and crashed into him, wrapping her small legs around his waist and burying her face in his neck. It took Bucky a moment to balance, but he eventually did, not wanting to drop her. 

“Hi,” Bucky said back, feigning excitement. After a moment, he realized Kennedy had no intent of letting go, so he walked them over to the couch and sat her down. He sat down on the couch too, but far enough away that she’d have to reach to touch him. 

She frowned at him, and his heart sank. He hurt her. Great. The one thing he never wanted to do. But here he was, being angry over nothing and he hurt her feelings. Fucking idiot. After a moment of just sitting there staring at each other, Kennedy made her way back down to the floor, occupying herself with a coloring book. 

Even in her younger mindset, she knew something was up. And Steve wasn’t here anymore to fix it. Not her thoughts were swirling. A lot of doubt, a lot of self hate, and a lot of nasty thoughts filled her mind. He hated her. He didn’t want to be around her. She ruined everything. She ruined their friendship. Everything was going to be weird now, and it was all her fault. Her nasty thoughts took over, and she battled with herself to get out of her younger mindset. When she finally managed it enough, she turned to Bucky. 

“Are you okay?” She asked, sitting up, not taking her eyes off of him. He turned his attention towards her, on high alert now that she wasn’t in little space anymore. 

“Uh, yeah,” he said awkwardly. “Are you-are you big now?” He asked.

“Yeah,” she replied as she got off of the couch to sit next to him. She was hoping he’d talk to her. That he’d pay attention to her. Hug her again. Anything. 

“Alright, then. I’ll be in my room if you need me,” he said coldly, getting up off the couch before she could move any closer and hurried away to his room. 

Her heart sank down to her feet. Yup. He hated her. With the nasty thoughts creeping back in, she could feel herself slipping back into little space. 

She made an executive decision while she still had the chance. She was going to go take a nap, or at least lay down, until Steve came home. Bucky didn’t seem to want anything to do with her, so the least she could do was attempt to take care of herself for a few hours. 

With that, she quietly walked to her room, holding back tears as she passed Bucky’s door. She couldn’t help but be hurt. She thought he was at least her friend. Maybe she should have had Steve call Nat or Sam. At least she wouldn’t be crying and alone right now. 

She laid down in her bed and wrapped herself up in a blanket as she let the tears fall. She was alone now, no one could see just how broken she was from this. This was exactly why she didn’t want to let herself fall for Bucky in the first place. She would only get hurt, and she was unfortunately proven correct. She did get hurt. Bad. And it was all her fault. Bucky hated her because she pushed him away. Now he couldn’t even stand to be in the same room as her. 

Kennedy felt herself slipping deeper and deeper into little space as sleep overcame her tired eyes, just hoping she was asleep long enough for Steve to get back home.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky fixes things.

As Steve entered the door of the Avengers Tower, the sun was beginning to set and it was close to dinner time. He was already frustrated, because SHIELD didn’t even really need him, just wanted him there for support in their new venture. They just wanted Captain America’s approval, have him on their side publically, which could have been done over the phone. There was no reason he had to leave Kennedy and he was furious about it. She was in no head space to be alone, not with all the stress that she has put herself through, and he wasn’t sure if Bucky would help or hurt that. Steve was praying for the former. But he had had no other choice. Kennedy didn’t want anyone else to come hang out with her, so he was going to respect that. 

And he knew Bucky wouldn’t do anything to hurt her. He was great with her from day one, little or not. He cared about her. Steve knew that, no matter how worried he was about the situation. 

As he exited the elevator into their apartment, Steve was met with quiet. Kennedy wasn’t in the living room where he had left her just hours prior. Not that it was a big deal, but she enjoyed spending her time out there. And Bucky was nowhere to be found. Steve shrugged it off, taking his jacket off and hanging it up on the rack before going to look for Kennedy. 

Steve walked down the hallway, and he was still met with quietness. No TVs on. No music. No voices. Silence. He approached Kennedy’s door and slowly cracked the door open, not wanting to alarm her. Which he didn’t, because she was still asleep. She had been since she layed down. 

Steve approached the bed gently, not wanting to wake her up, but still wanting to physically check in that things were okay. 

That’s when he saw it. The red puffy eyes. She had been crying. Why? And her thumb was in her mouth, and her blanket was fisted in the clutch. Her other hand tightly gripped her favorite stuffed animal. She was clearly still in little space. Yet she was in bed, alone, crying. And the guard rails on her bed weren’t up. That was Steve’s biggest rule about Kennedy sleeping in her own bed when she was in little space. They had to be up. He didn’t want a repeat of a nasty fall she had had months back. Sure, it wasn’t gruesome, but she had sprained her wrist and he wanted to prevent that from happening again. And Bucky knew about this rule, had been since the first time he saw her little and him and Steve talked afterwards. What in the hell happened? 

Steve took a deep breath, trying to contain his anger, and left Kennedy’s room, attempting to shut the door as quietly as possible before stalking off to Bucky’s. 

Steve didn’t hesitate, just swung the door open and barged right in. Bucky slightly jumped and raised his head from the book he had attempted to preoccupy himself with. He was never really reading it. His mind had been spinning since the moment he left the living room. He knew it was a bad call, but he just wasn’t ready to talk to her yet. And she told him she was big, that meant she was okay to be by herself. At least, that’s what he kept telling himself. 

“What the hell happened?” Steve asked, sternly. 

“What are you talking about?” Bucky asked with a confused expression on his face. 

“What do you mean what am I talking about? Kennedy! What happened with Kennedy?” Steve asked. He was starting to have a really hard time curbing his anger. Bucky was just being stupid beyond words right now. 

“Steve, nothing ‘happened’,” Bucky argued. Steve just about lost it right there. 

“Then care to explain to me why she’s in bed, has obviously been crying, and to top it all off she’s in little space? Alone?” Steve asked through gritted teeth, approaching the edge of the bed. 

“She was fine when I left her,” was all Bucky said, but his heart was pounding in his ears. He was a complete fuck up. He left her when he knew he shouldn’t have, but he was being selfish. And he was ruining things again. His dumb mistake could have gotten Kennedy hurt. Hell, she probably was hurt. Emotionally, at least. He never ever wanted that to happen. And he was ruining his friendship with Steve. Steve was furious at him. He had never been on the receiving end of one of Steve’s tirades and it was intimidating, to say the least. He was fucking everything up, just like he told them he would. 

“YOU WHAT?” Steve roared. “You fucking left her like that? After everything this week? Are you a complete fucking idiot?” 

Steve hadn’t meant to yell. He was already kicking himself in the ass for it. He never wanted any confrontations to get to this point. But he was just so protective of Kennedy. He knew what she had been through. Knew how she was like when she wasn’t in the right mindset. Knew what she needed at times like this. And it was not to be alone. 

And deep down, Steve knew that Bucky hadn’t meant any harm. He knew that before, but it was made even more apparent by the look on his friends face. Guilt. Shame. Self hatred. But he was still furious. 

“She said she was fine. I wouldn’t have left if -”

“If what? If you knew she would end up alone? Crying? Because I know damn well you knew she was NOT in the right mindset to be left alone, no matter what she fucking told you,” Steve argued, throwing his hands out. “You were selfish.”

“I know,” was all Bucky could say back. He deserved to get yelled at. Probably deserved to get beat. He ruined everything, and he deserved whatever was coming for him. 

“Is that all you have to say? Really?” Steve asked, frustrated with his hands on his hips. 

At Bucky’s silence, Steve scoffed. “You’re unbelievable. And here I was thinking that you-”

And that’s when they both heard it. A sniffle at the door. Their heads snapped up and they saw Kennedy, crying once more, dressed in nothing more than a t-shirt and pullup, clutching her blankie to her chest. Her dark hair was a mess from her nap and she had tears streaming down her face. 

“Sweetheart, what’s wrong?” Steve said, not skipping a beat. He walked over to her quickly and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in close. She nuzzled her face into his chest, crying softly for a moment as he rubbed her back, attempting to soothe her the best he could in the moment. 

“I-I hewd you yellin and I woke up,” Kennedy said, which only forced her into another batch of tears. 

“Oh, sweetheart, I’m so sorry I woke you up. And I’m sorry I was yelling. I know you don’t like that,” Steve said, rubbing her back and feeling more and more guilty by the second. “How about we go lay down again, okay?” He asked, trying to gently coax her out of Bucky’s room, but her feet stayed firmly planted on the floor. There was more going on here than him yelling, Steve knew. “What’s wrong? What’s going on in the pretty little head of yours?” Steve asked quietly, squatting down a bit to be face to face with her. 

Kennedy looked at him with big eyes, still swollen with tears. He could see the fight in her eyes, an inner battle on if she wanted to speak her mind or not. And her brave side seemed to be winning. But he didn’t expect what she said. 

“Why Bucky hate me?” She asked, voice small and trembling. 

Bucky’s heart fucking shattered. He had heard the whole conversation, it was hard not to seeing as they were standing in his room. And when he heard her weak voice ask that question, his heart broke and he felt himself stop breathing for a moment. He deserved a thousand more years as the Winter Soldier for this. This was the absolute last thing he wanted. He only wanted to love Kennedy, make her feel loved. And he failed. And he hated himself for it. 

Upon hearing what was truly on Kennedy’s mind, his head snapped around to look at Bucky. After a moment, Bucky looked up at him and he could see Steve’s eyes practically screaming ‘fix this’. Steve knew he couldn’t fix this. It was the one problem of hers that he could not fix for her. It had to be Bucky. No matter how much Steve could try to convince her that she was wrong, she had to hear the truth from Bucky’s mouth. And Steve was praying, his eyes pleading with Bucky, that Bucky would step up to the plate. 

And he did. 

Bucky took a deep breath and gently walked over to them. Steve was watching him closely, but Kennedy’s eyes were fixed on a wet patch on Steve’s shirt. When he made his way over to them, he gently laid his flesh hand on Kennedy’s arm and she flinched away from him, moving further into Steve. Bucky immediately retracted his hand, understanding that the last thing she wanted was for him to touch her right now. 

“Kennedy, doll, can you please look at me?” Bucky asked gently. Kennedy nodded her held, but she took a moment to actually build up the courage. She wasn’t ready for him to look her in the eyes and tell her that he wanted nothing to do with her. 

Finally, she lifted her head with a shaky breath, still clutching to Steve and her blankie, and made eye contact with Bucky. 

It was in that moment that she knew how wrong she had been. He looked absolutely devastated. 

“Doll, I don’t hate you. At all. Not a single bit. There’s nothing about you to hate. Please, please believe me,” Bucky begged. This seemed to calm her a bit, as Kennedy’s next nob was a little less shaky, so Bucky pressed on. “I don’t hate you. If anything, I love you. Hell, doll, I’m probably in love with you.” 

Bucky couldn’t help himself from revealing the truth. He never wanted it to be like this, with Kennedy staring up at him, clutching to Steve, unsure tears in her eyes, but this was the moment it happened. 

“You, you what?” Kennedy asked, voice a little stronger than before. The shock of his revelation brought Kennedy back down to Earth a bit, and she just had to be sure she heard him correctly. She untangled herself from Steve to face Bucky fully, her full attention now on him. 

“I love you, doll. More than you know,” Bucky said sincerely, eyes not leaving hers. “But we can talk about that later. When you’re ready. Okay?” Bucky asked, approaching her carefully and placing his hand on her arm once again. Instead of flinching, she leaned into his touch, staring up at him. 

“O-okay,” she replied. She was still in a weird headspace between little and big, and she was very unsure of herself. Unsure of what Bucky had told her. Unsure of the situation. But she did know that all she wanted was Bucky right now. And he wanted her. He was looking at her with so much sincerity in his eyes, and he was concentrated on her, she couldn’t help but believe that what he said was true. Maybe he did love her. 

“And I’m sorry about today. I was in my own head about everything and I wasn’t there for you. I’m sorry I left you alone. I was being stupid and selfish. I shouldn’t have done that. And I promise,” he said, finally wrapping her in his strong arms, “that I will never leave you alone again, as long as you let me stay.” 

Seeing that Bucky had effectively, and seemingly effortlessly, took care of the situation, Steve decided it was his time to leave. Steve let out a sigh of relief when he saw Kennedy fall into Bucky’s arm, a small indication that Bucky was forgiven and all was well again. And he was relieved that the truth was finally out, even if it wasn’t being fully addressed at the moment. 

With faith that Bucky had everything under control, Steve made eye contact with Bucky over Kennedy’s head, which was hidden in Bucky’s chest as he held her. Steve gave him a small smile and a nod, letting him know that everything was okay, and that he was proud of him. With that, he left the room silently and shut the door behind him, leaving them to their business. 

“How does cuddles and a movie sound, doll?” Bucky asked, crouching down so he was face to face with a now calm Kennedy.

“Okay,” Kennedy replied, giving Bucky a shy smile and a giggle. 

“Do you need to get changed first?” Bucky asked tentatively, noticing that Kennedy had been squirming around a bit indicating that her pull-up might be wet. Kennedy blushed a deep shade of red and nodded, looking at Bucky’s feet instead of at him this time. Kennedy hated when people saw her this vulnerable. It was usually just Steve. Besides, Bucky had already changed her once before. But it was somehow different now, with their confessions looming over them. Plus, who could really blame her for being wet? She woke up alone, scared from the yelling, and not in the right mindset. 

Bucky changed her quickly, and respectfully, not looking at her unless he had to. Sure, he had seen her naked before, but even to him it was different now. This wasn’t how he planned to see her naked for the first time, or second, but this wasn’t the same as to what he had had in mind. Besides, he would never take advantage of her, especially not in this mindset. Even if he still had questions about this lifestyle, he knew better than that. 

Kennedy was quickly changed and placed under Bucky’s cover, while he searched for a movie she’d like. “Any suggestions, doll?” Bucky asked when he came up short, not knowing anything about modern movies.

“Beauty and the Beast?” Kennedy asked sweetly. Even in a younger headspace, she was hoping that the story would resonate with Bucky, maybe. Maybe he wouldn’t look too far into it, but she knew what he was like, he would. He looked too far into everything. And it seemed fitting for them. Their story. Kennedy loved him regardless of what he was, who he had been, how he saw himself. She was hoping he’d recognize that. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Once the movie was over, Bucky turned to Kennedy. He hadn’t spoken a word throughout the movie, just letting Kennedy react and sing along to all the songs, like every word to every song. He’d just fondly smile over at her, and then focus back on the movie. He held her in his arms the whole time, never quite ready to let her go. 

“So, why’d you pick this movie?” Bucky asked, kinda having a clue as to why she did. 

“C-cause,” Kennedy started, a blush creeping up on her face, “it kinda us.” 

“Oh, so I’m a beast?” Bucky asked jokingly, ticking Kennedy’s sides a bit. 

Kennedy froze, completely missing his joking tone. That’s not what she wanted him to think. “No,” Kennedy said, a little too loudly. “No, no, no,” was all she seemed to be able to get out, shaking her head furiously. 

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. I was only joking,” Bucky said, tightening his grip on her. “I know what you meant, doll. Don’t worry.” 

Kennedy went placid in his grip, finally calmed down. So he did get it. She knew he’d read into it. She hoped he got the message loud and clear. 

Bucky looked at the clock, it was almost 7pm. Fuck. He forgot about dinner. He was too wrapped up in Kennedy to care, but she must have been starving. 

“You hungry?” Bucky asked. 

“Mhm,” Kennedy replied enthusiastically. 

Bucky nodded and took his phone out. Steve had taught Bucky how to use it in the past few weeks, and it was finally important knowledge. He didn’t really talk to anyone besides Steve and Kennedy, and they lived with him, so he never really used it. But he had a plan in mind. He wanted to order food and have a picnic in bed, maybe another movie. 

So that’s exactly what they did. 

~~~~~~~~~

The Chinese food came and was eaten, both of them starving, and The Little Mermaid got played, for no reason other than the fact that Kennedy really liked the music. 

Bucky was finally cleaning up their mess, Kennedy still huddled under his mass of sheets. She was perfectly content, and slowly falling asleep surrounded by Bucky’s scent. 

Finally, Bucky came back into the room from throwing out the trash and saw Kennedy, dosing away. He smiled fondly and made his way over to the bed, lightly shaking her back to consciousness. 

“Hey, Kennie, time for bed?” Bucky asked once her eyes fluttered open. 

Kennedy nodded and hummed, not having the energy for words. Bucky peeled back the covers and gently scooped her up, getting ready to take her back to her own room for the night. He wanted her to stay in his room, wanted to cuddle her for the whole night. He wanted to cuddle her forever, really, if he was being honest. But she didn’t say she wanted to stay, so he wasn’t going to force it on her. 

As they approached the door, Kennedy made a noise of disapproval. 

“What’s wrong? I’m just bringing you to your room for bed, doll,” Bucky explained, stopping in the doorway. 

“Wanna stay wif Daddy,” Kennedy mumbled, sleepily laying her head on Bucky’s shoulder. 

Bucky was sad for a moment, but he understood. It was only natural that after the day she had she wouldn’t want to sleep alone, and she was used to replying on Steve for these things. And besides, Bucky wasn’t ‘Daddy’, Steve was. “Okay then, let’s go find him,” Bucky said, starting to walk again. 

Kennedy's head popped up, an adorably confused look on her face. Bucky stopped again, waiting for her to talk. “No, you silly,” Kennedy said with a smile on her face. 

“Oh, okay. You wanna stay with me?” Bucky asked, a smile spread on his face. 

“Mhm,” was all Kennedy said back, nuzzling her face into his neck. 

Bucky turned around and went back into his room, laying Kennedy back down on his bed and tucking her in. 

The smile on his face never went away. He was excited. Happy. Relieved. Hopeful. She called him Daddy. He just hoped she didn’t regret it this time. Didn’t regret him. But, to him, this was a step in the right direction. It was almost an honor for him, to know that she thought so much of him. 

Bucky walked around the bed and climbed into the other side, immediately wrapping Kennedy in his arms. She snuggled in close and got comfortable, perfectly content in Bucky’s arms, as she had been for most of the evening. 

“Night, doll,” Bucky said, placing a quick kiss on her forehead. She didn’t back away from him, so he took that as another sign of good news. 

“Night, night Daddy,” Kennedy mumbled back, smiling to herself over the small kiss. Her heart fluttered when she felt his lips on hers, wanting more, but she knew she had to save that for the morning, when she was hopefully in a more adult headspace than her current one. Content and happy, she fell asleep quickly.

He smiled down fondly at her, not that she could see in the dark, but he just had to. Bucky’s heart swelled everytime she nuzzled in closer. It was a feeling he had not felt in decades, and he knew then that he was helplessly in love with this woman. He only hoped she felt that same. 

Bucky had expected he’d be awake for hours to come. Sleep hadn’t come easily to him since he got back, always haunted by visions of his past when he closed his eyes. And staying asleep was even harder, always being scared awake by violent nightmares of what he had been. But that night, with Kennedy contentedly asleep in his arms, his heart full of nothing but love, his thoughts focused solely on the sleeping girl, sleep came easy to him. And he stayed asleep throughout the whole night, for the first time in weeks finally getting a good night's rest.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky and Kennedy finally talk things out.

Kennedy and Bucky woke up far after Steve left the apartment, already almost 10am. They hadn’t meant to sleep that late, or that long, but they were just so comfortable in each other's grasps. 

Kennedy was the first to wake up, already starting to wiggle out of Bucky’s grasp. She was in a clear state of mind, and was beginning to remember everything from yesterday. The roller coaster of emotions. The cuddling. The smiles. Bucky’s confession. Everything. She was happy, but she was embarrassed a bit. Embarrassed by the state she was in when everything happened. She wished she had been in a more adult head space, but that’s not something she could change. She just wished she could have reciprocated more, or fully taken everything in in the moment. 

To shake her embarrassment off and collect her thoughts, Kennedy decided she just needed to shower and get changed, and then maybe talk to Bucky. So she continued her small wiggles in a poor attempt to get out of his arms. But even in half consciousness, he was too strong for her to shake. 

Bucky let out a whine of disapproval, a noise she wasn’t even aware he could make, but it was adorable. Bucky being sleepy and whiny and clingy made her heart melt. It was a completely different side of him, and she loved every side he was willing to show her. 

Kennedy squiremed again, but he only held on tighter. 

WIth a sigh, Kennedy caved. “Bucky, it’s time to get up,” she whispered while gently shaking him, not wanting to startle him. 

“Mmm, what time is it?” He mumbled, eyes still shut and his voice deep from sleep. He was even perfect first thing in the morning. 

“It’s almost 10,” Kennedy answered softly, tentatively playing with his hair. He leaned in to the touch, eyes still closed. 

“I think I’d rather stay in bed with you, doll,” he whispered, opening his eyes slightly. Kennedy just giggled and shook her head slightly. 

“We were in bed most of yesterday. I think it’s time to take a break from bed,” Kennedy laughed. 

Bucky finally came to his senses and noticed the change in Kennedy from the night before. She was clearly in a more clear and adult headspace, and probably wanted to leave. Was probably embarrassed about yesterday, and everything that happened. Or maybe she just didn’t want to talk about it yet, and was trying to flee before Bucky brought it up. Either way, he respected her choice of wanting to get out of his bed. He knew he should, too. 

“Fine,” Bucky practically whined, jokingly. “We do need to eat though.” 

“Yeah, I know,” Kennedy said softly. “I’ll meet you in the kitchen after I shower?” She suggested. 

“Yeah,” Bucky said, loosening his grip of her finally, “sounds like a plan.” 

Kennedy gave him one last smile and left his room, hopefully not for the last time. Bucky didn’t know how today was going to play out, if they were even going to talk about yesterday’s events, but he knew they were moving a step in the right direction. At least, he sure hoped so. 

~~~~~~~~~~

When Kennedy finally made her way to the kitchen, Bucky was already standing by the stove cooking. “Eggs good?” He asked over his shoulder. 

“Yeah, eggs are good,” Kennedy replied, walking over to the refrigerator to find herself some juice. 

Kennedy dared a glance at Bucky, and he really was perfect. And shirtless. Oh. She had only seen him shirtless after they went to the gym together, but this was different. This was ‘I’m cooking breakfast after we shared a night together’ shirtless. This was much different. 

And he was perfect. Built like a god, with a mental extension. Even his scars were perfect. To her, they were a visual reminder of his hardships, and how far he has come to overcome them. To him, they were ugly, but she would never let him think that if she could help it. 

And the way his grey sweatpants hung from his hips, and hugged his massive thighs. And perfectly outlined another part of his that seemed to be massive, too. Perfect. 

And his hair was still wet from his shower, perfectly dangling around his perfect face. He looked less tired than usual today. Maybe he had a good night's sleep. And his eyes shined a little brighter when he was looking at her. Oh. He was looking at her. He was looking at her looking at him. And he had a smug smirk plastered on his face. 

“Like what ya see, doll?” He teased, an eyebrow quirked at her. 

Kennedy blushed furiously, probably the darkest blush he had ever seen on her cheeks, and he loved it. Loved that knowing, even just a little bit, that she wanted him at least half as much as he wanted her. 

“Sorry,” Kennedy mumbled as she turned back to the fridge, grabbing herself some orange juice. Bucky laughed lightly, barely loud enough for her to hear, and turned back to the food that was almost ready. 

An uncomfortable silence fell over the kitchen as they got their food and sat down. They kept sneaking glances at each other, making eye contact every once in a while, leaving them both a bit flustered as they settled in for breakfast. It was clear to both of them that the other one had something to say, just neither one of them exactly wanted to go first. 

After a few bites, Bucky finally spoke up, clearing his throat to get all of her attention. “We should talk about yesterday,” he said, nervously. “You remember, right?” 

“Yeah, I remember. I don’t just forget everything that happens when I’m little,” Kennedy said with a small chuckle, clearly nervous. 

“Good,” Bucky said, shooting her a fond smile, eyes crinkled in the corners. “And I just wanna say it again, just so we’re clear, I don’t hate you. I know you thought that yesterday, and I just don’t want you to have any doubts that I was lying or something. I don’t hate you. I hope I made that clear yesterday.” 

“I know you don’t, and you did prove to me yesterday you didn’t,” Kennedy said with a shy smile. “I just, I don’t know, the past week has been hard, for both of us, I know, and-”

“You don’t have to explain, I know why you thought. I acted like a punk yesterday. You needed me to be there just as much as I needed you, but I was being selfish. I just hope you can forgive me,” Bucky said, cutting her off. 

“I do forgive you. I know life isn’t easy for you right now, and I made it even weirder by acting the way I have been. I’m sorry, too,” Kennedy admitted. 

“Well, I forgive you, too, then. I get it. We all deal with things in different ways. I just hoped you changed your mind about me,” Bucky said, suddenly nervous again. 

Maybe she rethought things in the shower and regretted yesterday? Maybe she’d want to leave again? No, she wouldn’t be sitting here if she wanted to leave. Bucky pushed his anxious thoughts out, the best he could at least, and focused her attention back on Kennedy. 

“What do you mean?” Kennedy asked. 

“Before you left, you, um, you said you had feelings for me, but you didn’t want to. I hope that changed. Not the feelings, the wanting to,” Bucky explained, looking intently at Kennedy for a reaction. 

She was good at hiding her emotions. She had been trained to do so for years. But with Bucky that all fell down. It was dangerous, but she knew he wouldn’t abuse that. It went against everything she was ever taught, but it felt good, to let her guard down like this. And he saw the small smile on her face as she looked down at her half eaten eggs, and the way her breathing increased just a little bit; nerves. 

“Um, yeah. I guess that changed. The wanting to,” Kennedy said, leaning back and finally looking up to meet Bucky’s eyes. 

“So what does that mean for you?”

“It means,” Kennedy paused, suddenly unsure if she wanted to go through with this. She had said it once before, albeit in a much different setting, but this time it was more nerve wracking. She wanted to have feelings for him. She wanted to be in love with him. She wanted him. And that scared her. But, as she was looking in the eyes of the man across from her, she knew it was worth it. She didn’t know how she knew, but something was telling her that this was right. “It means I have feelings for you. And I want to now. And I want to see where this goes, with you, if you want.” 

“I’d like that too, doll. It’s just,” Bucky paused, “are you sure? About me?” He asked, concerned. 

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Kennedy asked. 

“It’s just, I don’t want to fuck this up. I already hurt you once, I don’t want to ever hurt you again. I’m bound to fuck things up again. I’m practically a walking disaster these days. I just don’t want to hurt you and for you to regret ever giving me a chance,” Bucky explained, eyes cast down to his breakfast. 

“You won’t hurt me,” Kennedy replied simply. Bucky’s head shot up, alarmed at the honesty in her voice. 

“How do you know?” He asked. 

“I just know. You barely knew me and you were so good with me that first night. I know you’d never hurt me, especially not intentionally. You don’t want to hurt anyone. You’re a good man. I don’t think you have a bad bone in your body. Trust yourself, please. I trust you,” Kennedy explained. 

“You trust me? Even after everything I’ve done?” Bucky asked, wide eyed. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. And they both knew he wasn’t referring just to hurting her yesterday. He was referring to everything he had done in his life. All the murder, all the violence, and the hurt. He never felt like he deserved to be trusted after that, but here was a girl half his size, looking up at him and telling him that she trusted him fully. 

“Yes, Bucky. Even after everything. Because that wasn’t you. The real you wanted out. The real you, the one that’s sitting right here with me, didn’t want to do any of that. Would have never done any of that. And I know you’re still healing from that, and dealing with everything. I know that feeling more than most other people. And I don’t expect that to happen over night. There are gonna be really, really tough days, but I’ll be here and I’ll be as patient as you need me to be because I know the real you. So please believe me when I say I trust you. Okay?” Kennedy explained, voice strong, needing him to hear her. Truly hear her. 

And he did. He had a lot of emotions about being told that he was trusted. Wanted. Cared for. They were all things that seemed like a far away dream for so long. And now they were sitting right in front of him. He couldn’t be happier, but he was still nervous that he’d fuck it up. But Kennedy believed in him, so he guessed he should too. 

“I believe you. Thank you. I never expected to hear those words for the rest of my life,” Bucky shamefully admitted. 

“Well you deserve to hear them a lot more, because you should be trusted. You’ve given me no good reason not to. Sure, I was hurt yesterday, but you never meant to hurt me. And you fixed it. And here we are talking. No reason not to trust you,” Kennedy said, smiling.

Bucky just nodded and smiled, heart full. He couldn’t believe that she trusted him, but he was going to let himself believe it. Kennedy wanted him to believe it. And he would do anything for her. 

“I believe you. You kinda proved it to me in your own little way yesterday, anyways,” Bucky said, changing the subject, wanting to focus back on her for a bit. 

“What do you mean?” Kennedy asked, taking her glass from her lips. 

“Well, you called me ‘Daddy’. Thought that name was only reserved for Steve,” he said, the smirk returning to his face. 

“I-I’m sorry about that. I don’t want to push anything on you like that, I just-”

“Hey, it’s fine. I liked it. Made me happy to hear. I guess it proved how much you do trust me. That you trust me with that part of you that not a lot of people get to see. And proved how much you liked me,” Bucky said with a chuckle. 

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Kennedy said, the blush now almost permanent on her cheeks. “But, I guess it’s more than that, I don’t know.” 

“Oh, really?” Bucky asked, one eyebrow raised. 

“Yeah. I don’t know how to explain this well, but I guess I’ll try my best. It’s more than just that, especially with you. It’s different than with Steve. I just- I don’t know,” Kennedy finished, wanting to say so much more than she actually did. 

She wanted to tell Bucky that by calling him ‘Daddy’, and specifically him, she wanted to give him her all. More than she had ever given Steve. Her and Steve were never romantic, or sexual, and she wanted all of that with Bucky. Wanted to let those walls down for him and let her see those sides to her, too. She wanted to let herself be vulnerable with him, in every sense, and by calling him ‘Daddy’, she solidified that in her head. It meant more than he would probably ever know. 

The room fell quite once more as Bucky attempted to digest what little she had told him. It was different, but how? He wasn’t so sure yet. He was just elated that she trusted him with this side of her, and any other side of herself she was willing to bare to him. 

“Okay, how about we talk about it more over dinner tonight?” Bucky asked smoothly. 

“Dinner?” Kennedy inquired, hoping he meant what she thought he meant. 

“Yeah, like a date,” Bucky said, a blush rising to his cheeks. He hadn’t done this in decades, so it was all new to him all over again. As hard as he tried, he wasn’t the young casanova he once was. “And not the diner this time, something different. I-I want it to be special,” he finished, his whole face now flushed from nerves. Was he pushing things too far too soon? It felt right, so he went with it. 

And Bucky was shown that his risk worked, because Kennedy flashed a wide smile back. “I’d love that,” she replied shyly, taking another sip of her orange juice.

Bucky beamed back, buzzing with excitement. “How does 7 sound?”

“7 sounds perfect.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky and Kennedy go on a date.

Once again, Steve was coming home from work at about 5pm. The sun was beginning to set, but the mood in the apartment was bright as he entered. He didn’t know why, but he just felt a buzz throughout the place. No more awkwardness, no more tension, no more fighting. His small world was at peace once again. 

He placed his jacket on the rack, and walked towards the kitchen on the hunt for anything to eat. He had skipped lunch because of Coulson’s demands, and he was deeply regretting it. His stomach growling, he made a beeline for the cabinet where all the good snacks were kept, and he almost missed what was laying on the table until he turned around. 

Flowers. A really nice bouquet of flowers. And a small gift bag. What? For who? When did it get here? Why? 

Steve had a lot of questions. Questions that he had a sneaking suspicion Bucky could answer. So with his snack, a chocolate granola bar, he made his way to Bucky’s room and knocked. 

Within seconds the door whipped open. Bucky had clearly been expecting someone, and not Steve by the looks of it. Bucky looked… nice. There was no other way to put it. He had showered, and trimmed his beard, and had slicked back hair. He was wearing the dress pants and shirt Steve had gotten him, mostly just so he would have if the situation ever arised where he needed something nice. And apparently he did right now. And was that cologne? What the hell was going on?

“You look nice. What’s going on?” Steve questioned after he took him in, a smirk on his face. 

Bucky let him in with a huff and a playful eye roll. Once Steve was inside the room and the door was shut, a barricade from prying ears, Bucky turned to him. “Me and Kennedy are going on a date at 7,” he said simply, a smile plastered on his face. It really hadn’t gone away all day. Maybe happiness was permanent now in Bucky’s life. At least for now. 

“Finally,” Steve laughed. “So that explains the flowers and gift bag on the table?”

“Yeah,” Bucky sighed, “just wanted to do something nice for her. Do you think she’ll like it?”

Steve just smiled at him, sensing his friend's nerves. “She’ll love it. I promise,” Steve assured him. 

“Okay good, cause I wasn’t sure if I went overboard,” Bucky admitted. 

“Can I ask what’s in the gift bag?” Steve asked, curiosity killing him. 

Bucky blushed at his question. Full on blushed. This was a side of him that Steve had never seen. Back in the 40s he was a playboy, a ladies man. Steve had never seen him flustered over a woman, not once. And here he was, blushing like a schoolboy over Kennedy. She must really be doing a number on him to get this type of reaction out of him. 

“It’s, um, it’s a locket. It’s empty right now. She can do whatever she wants with it. But, I don’t know,” Bucky paused. 

“You want your picture in there, huh?” Steve asked, no judgement or joking in his voice. “Just like how the girls would wear them back in the day when their guys went off to war?” 

“Yeah. Yeah, I guess that’s where my mind was at with that,” Bucky admitted. “Just figured it would be too much right now. So I left it empty.” 

“She’ll love it, Buck. She’s a simple girl. Never wants a damn thing even though she deserves the world,” Steve said. 

“She really does, doesn’t she?” Bucky commented fondly. “I’ll try my damn best.” 

“I know you will, Buck. I wouldn’t be such a fan of this happening if I didn’t think that. You’re both gonna do everything to treat the other one right. You two are just right for each other.”

“You really think so?” Bucky asked. 

“Oh, yeah,” Steve laughed. “Since the moment you two met. Actually met. Just the way you looked at eachother. It’s been pretty obvious to everyone around you guys. I’ve just been keeping her safe for you.” 

“Well, thanks,” Bucky chuckled. 

“And for the love of God, relax. You’re killin me,” Steve joked. 

“That obvious?” Bucky asked. 

“You’re ready two hours before it’s time to go. It’s pretty obvious, Buck,” Steve laughed. Bucky gave him a laugh back and shook his head. “Where is she?” Steve asked, wanting to go check on her too. 

“In her room with Natasha, getting ready. I’ve been banned until it’s time to leave,” Bucky said, rolling his eyes at the girl’s antics. 

Once Natasha found out about their date, she stormed the apartment in order to help Kennedy get ready. Natasha argued it was simply a ‘girl’s thing’ while practically shoving Bucky out of Kennedy’s doorway. He didn’t put up a fight, and he left them to it. 

“Well, I’m gonna go check on her real quick, then I’ll probably be back. Even though you seem to have yourself all under control,” Steve said, patting Bucky on the shoulder and standing up. Bucky simply nodded, words eluding him as anticipation took over his body once more, and Steve left. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Steve practically had to beg his way into Kennedy’s room. Natasha kept arguing it was ‘girl time’, but Kennedy finally let him in, knowing how stubborn Steve could be. He would sit out there until they left if he had to. 

“So, big date?” Steve asked with a smirk when he finally sat down on Kennedy’s bed. 

“I’m assuming you’ve already talked to him,” Kennedy commented as Natasha continued on doing her hair. 

“Yeah, just came from his room. He’s all excited,” Steve said, knowing the sly comment would egg her on. 

“He is?” Kennedy asked, her voice dripped with vulnerability. 

“He better be,” Natasha commented under her breath, the frustration of trying to tame Kennedy’s unruly hair catching up with her. 

“Of course he is. You should see him, all dressed up and nervous. I’ve never seen him like this before. You’re one lucky lady,” Steve teased. 

“Pretty sure he’d disagree,” Kennedy said honestly. 

“Of course he would. But enough about that old man. You excited?” 

“Y-yeah. Nervous, but excited. This is just so weird for me,” Kennedy admitted. 

“Well, I’m glad you agreed. You two are right for eachother,” Steve said. 

“You really think so?” Kennedy asked. 

Steve just laughed, recalling Bucky asking the same question to the same statement just minutes ago. “Oh, you two are hopeless without us.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Kennedy asked, offended. 

“I literally just had this conversation with him. You two are both just clueless when it comes to each other sometimes,” Steve laughed. Kennedy only rolled her eyes, but was silently reassured by the fact that Bucky was just as nervous as her. 

“Whatever,” Kennedy mumbled, forcing a chuckle from both Steve and Natasha. 

“Well, no matter what happens, I’m here for ya kid. I know he’ll treat you good, but if he doesn’t I won't hesitate to kick his ass for ya. I’m always here for you, my best girl,” Steve said, bringing up a fond pet name he called her over the years. 

She really had become his ‘best girl’ even if they hadn’t been romantic. It was Steve and Kennedy against the world for a long time, living together in their shared apartment in Avengers Tower. Sure, Natasha, and Sam, and Tony, and everyone else had always been around, but at the end of the day it had always been just the two of them. Having eachothers back, doing everything together, loving each other fiercely. They were each other's worlds, each other's homes, for a long time. Things were going to be different now, with Bucky and Kennedy a thing or whatever they chose to be, but they both knew the friendship they shared was unbreakable. It was always going to be Steve and Kennedy against the world, now Bucky was just along for the ride. The missing unit of their now perfect trio. 

“Wow, you really are my Dad after all,” Kennedy joked, ruining the moment due to pure awkwardness. They all laughed at her comment, and fell into a comfortable silence as Natasha continued to work her magic on Kennedy. 

“I mean it,” Steve said.

“I know,” Kennedy replied, looking at him with a knowing smile. It was a smile that said all of her feelings, and one that only he could possibly read. It was a smile that said ‘I know things are different now, but you’re still my best friend, still my home’. 

“Well if you two are done being weird now, can you leave? She has to change,” Natasha said, attempting to shoo Steve out of the room. 

“Not like I haven’t seen her change before,” Steve joked, referencing the countless times he had seen her change, or naked. Regardless, he got up, knowing his presence wasn’t needed in this room any longer. 

Steve bid his goodbye, letting him know they’d see him in a bit, and left the room. 

~~~~~~~~~~

With one final look over and Natasha’s approval, Kennedy was ready to go. Her nerves had dissipated after a lot of thinking during the silence that fell over them while Natasha was doing her makeup. It was just Bucky she was going on a date with. It wasn’t like she didn’t know him. She trusted him. She loved him. This was just to make things official. Officially what? She didn’t know yet. But she was excited for the night to come. 

Kennedy’s dark hair was down, finally tamed by Natasha into some loose curls that perfectly framed her face. Her makeup was light, per her own request. She never wore makeup anyways, not like she had to with the job she had, and she wasn’t planning on drastically changing that now. She only wore makeup for special occasions, and this was a very special one. And she wore a dark green dress that Natasha had picked out for her paired with black heels. Kennedy had random dresses laying around in the back of her closet, mostly just to have since she rarely wore them unless there was yet another Stark party to attend. The dress was form fitting, but not too tight, and showed just enough cleavage to leave Bucky wanting. At least, that’s what Natasha said. Kennedy was pretty positive Bucky wanted her regardless of the dress. 

“You ready?” Natasha asked with a smirk. Natasha knew this was a big deal for Kennedy. She had never seen her friend be in a serious relationship with a man for the entire time they had known each other, and that was a long time. Just random hookups that Kennedy inevitably regretted. And Natasha knew that this was definitely serious, for both Kennedy and Bucky. Natasha was just as excited as Kennedy was. 

Kennedy gave her an enthusiastic nod and a smile, just wanting to get her night started as she headed for the door. She took a deep breath before exiting, and made her way to the living room where she knew Bucky would be waiting. 

Bucky could hear the clack of heels coming down the hallway from his spot on the couch, so he stood up and straightened himself out, flowers in hand. He had stashed the locket away in his room, to give to her later. He was much more nervous than Kennedy was, in his own head about the things that could go wrong. Not just on the date, he wasn’t particularly worried about, but in general. He was terrified that he’d inevitably hurt her, but her reassurances that were a constant in his mind calmed him a bit. 

He watched as her form appeared in the doorway, and he took a moment to take her all in. She looked stunning. Not that she didn’t always look stunning to him, but this was new. He had never seen her dressed up before, and he was in awe of her beauty. 

“Wow, doll, you look beautiful,” Bucky said, words tumbling out of his mouth before he could stop himself. 

“You don’t look so bad yourself,” Kennedy replied, approaching him. 

When she got close enough, he extended the flowers towards her, holding them up so she could see. He watched as a blush and a small smile crept onto her face as she took them from him, just staring at them. 

No guy had ever gotten her flowers before. She couldn’t stop the butterflies in her stomach if she tried. 

“Thank you. They’re beautiful,” Kennedy said, finally looking away from the flowers and up into his piercing blue eyes. They seemed brighter today, a twinkle present. 

“I was hoping you’d like them,” Bucky said, smiling back at her. 

“I love them,” Kennedy said before walking away to the kitchen, Bucky following closely. She gently placed the flowers down on the counter, knowing that Steve would have them in a vase and in her room by the time they got back. Steve was just good like that. Turning towards him, she asked “You ready?”

“Of course, doll,” Bucky replied as he offered an arm for her to take. Kennedy gladly did, getting wooed slowly by his old school charm, and they made their way to the elevator. 

~~~~~~~~~~

“Steve did what?” Bucky asked, flabbergasted. “I’ll kick his ass for that.” 

They were almost done with the dinner as Kennedy told Bucky a story of one of Steve’s more reckless adventures while Bucky had been gone, and of course that was his reaction. 

The date was amazing, in both of their humble opinions. Bucky had planned the whole thing, so he wanted to make sure it was perfect. They were at a nice restaurant in the Upper-East side and their conversation flowed naturally, a stark comparison to the awkward conversations they have been having lately. 

They treated this date as it was, a first date, and asked all the first date questions. About home. Growing up. Family. Embarrassing stories about Steve. The usual. A lot of the topics weren’t easy for them to talk about with anyone, but they found comfort in each other and talked freely, not fearing judgement or unwanted sympathy.

The connection was there, clear to see. They both finally understood what Steve, and everyone else behind their backs, was saying when he told them that they were right for eachother. They really were. And they both knew this now.

Kennedy was slightly terrified at the idea that maybe they were perfect for eachother. She never expected to have this with anyone in her life, so she didn’t know what to expect. She didn’t know what a perfect couple looked like. She hadn’t been raised in a loving household, and her past was far from romantic. 

The closest she knew to a perfect couple were Tony and Pepper, and they were far from perfect. But they loved each other fiercely. Maybe that’s what perfect was. And Kennedy could deal with that. Because neither one of them were perfect. They both had their own issues and this relationship wouldn’t be easy. But she loved him. So maybe it was perfect, in their own little way. 

And Bucky could feel his walls coming down. He had let a few walls down the past few weeks, but only because she compelled him to do so unknowingly. And this was no different. She was just easy. Easy to be around. To talk to. To listen to. She understood him like no one else did. She wasn’t scared of him because of his past. She didn’t have any preconceived notions because she knew him in another life. She knew him as he was, and she was still here, sitting in front of him. Bucky thought it was a miracle. She was his miracle. 

As dinner went on, Bucky found himself falling more in love with her, if that was even possible. He didn’t know it was. But nevertheless, he was falling and falling hard. And damn everything else, he would make this work. He would give her the world if she wanted it. He would battle his demons for her. He would do whatever he had to do to make the girl sitting in front of him infinitely happy. 

As dinner came to an end, they decided to head back to the Tower. They climbed into the car that Bucky had borrowed from Tony and took off, one of Bucky’s hands resting on Kennedy’s knee as he drove them back. 

The pair of them couldn’t stop talking, seemingly an endless amount of things to talk about. And they couldn’t stop smiling, both of them just happy to be in each other’s presence. 

It was a good first date, and would most certainly not be the last. 

~~~~~~~~~~

They exited the elevator, hands clasped, and were met with quiet. Steve had gone to Sam’s for the night, leaving the entire apartment for the pair. He knew he’d just talk to them in the morning. And if anything bad happened, which he knew wouldn’t, JARVIS was always on call. 

“I have one more surprise,” Bucky said after hanging up their coats. 

“Oh, really?” Kennedy asked, almost teasingly as she moved herself closer to Bucky. 

He looked down at her and smiled. “Yeah, come with me,” he said, taking her hand and leading towards his room. 

Once Kennedy figured out where they were headed, she decided to tease him a little more, just for fun. “Already trying to get me in bed, James?” She asked, raising an eyebrow at him mockingly. 

Bucky let out a laugh as they entered his room. “Not yet, doll,” he said, shaking his head. 

Truth be told, he didn’t know if he was even ready for that yet. Sex. Lord knows how bad he wanted it, especially with Kennedy, but he didn’t trust himself enough. He knew he would never intentionally hurt her, and he knew she would speak up if he did, but he didn’t want to ruin a good thing quite yet. And what they had right now was good, not meant to be rushed. It was just something they would have to work up to, he figured. And she would be patient. She always was with him. 

“I got you something,” Bucky said, walking over to his closet to retrieve the small bag. He came back to the bed and sat down next to her, passing her gift to her. “I hope you like it,” he said with a small blush creeping on his cheeks. 

She took the bag and placed it on her lap and grabbed the box that was inside. Bucky’s heart was racing, but he was looking at her intently to gauge her reaction. She opened the box and a smile lit up her face. She was staring down at a beautiful, gold locket in the shape of a heart. It was small and stunning, perfect for her. It was something that she could wear at all times, not just on fancy occasions, she noted. That was the whole reason he had picked it out, so she could wear it as she pleased. 

Kennedy was quiet for a moment, which made Bucky nervous, but if her face was anything to show, it showed that she was happy with his surprise. Kennedy was just taking the moment in. Never in her life had a guy been this nice to her. Hell, not many people in general have been this nice to her. She knew he went out of his way to do this for her, and that made her so happy. 

“Bucky, this is beautiful. I don’t know what to say. Thank you so much,” Kennedy said, staring up at the man in awe. 

“It’s no problem, doll. I’m just glad you like it,” Bucky replied. 

“I love it so much,” Kennedy gushed as she began to lift it out of it’s box. She inspected it further, and then opened it to see the inside. 

When she saw what was inside, she let out a small chuckle, but her heart fluttered. Her reaction caused Bucky to look down, and his face went white. 

“Oh, what’s this?” She asked, surprised. 

Steve Grant Rogers was a little shit and Bucky was going to kick his ass into next week the next time he saw him. Bucky was staring down at an old picture of himself from the 40s, cut perfectly to go inside of the locket. 

“That little shit,” Bucky said under his breath, unsure how to deal with this embarrassing situation. 

“What?” Kennedy asked, tearing her eyes away from the picture to look at Bucky. 

“Steve must have put that in there. I told him what I got you and I was purposefully gonna leave it empty so you could put what you wanted in there, but he decided otherwise, I guess,” Bucky explained. 

“Leave it to Steve to meddle,” Kennedy laughed. “I really like it though. With the picture, I mean,” Kennedy admitted with a blush. 

“You do?” Bucky asked, shocked. 

“Yeah, I do. I’m surprised you didn’t do it yourself,” Kennedy joked. 

“I just thought that was a little too forward, I guess. I-I wanted to. But, I don’t know,” Bucky said, looking down at the picture again. 

“Why’d you want to?” Kennedy asked, curious. 

Bucky chuckled lightly, mostly to himself. “I don’t know, it’s stupid,” Bucky said. He would have stopped there, but one look at Kennedy told him that she wanted an explanation. It wasn’t forceful, but he saw the expectant look in her eyes. “It’s an old school thing, I guess. Guys would give their girls lockets before they left for war with their pictures. That’s kinda what I was going for, a little bit,” Bucky explained, nervous for her reaction. This was definitely forward. 

“That’s really sweet, Bucky. I love it. And I’d be happy to wear my man around my neck,” she said, laughing a bit, unaware of the weight of what she just said. 

Bucky raised an eyebrow at her teasingly, a shocked look falling over his face. “Your man, huh?” He asked quietly. 

Kennedy blushed fiercely and looked down, occupying herself with the locket in her hands. She didn’t know what to say. 

“Doll, look at me,” Bucky cooed. 

After a moment, she looked up at him to find his eyes shining brightly at her. 

“I like the sound of that,” he said lowly, reaching a hand up to gently cup her face. They stared at each other for a moment, before Bucky spoke again. “Can I kiss you?” He asked, almost desperately. Kennedy nodded, and that was all he needed to press his lips to hers. 

The kiss started slow and light, both of them finally getting a taste for each other. Lips locking and unlocking gently, feather light touches over each other's bodies. Bucky’s hands had wrapped around Kennedy’s back and he was drawing light patterns onto her skin. Kennedy was clutching Bucky’s arms, needing to stay grounded in this moment. Butterflies filled their stomachs, but it was a nice feeling to have. Then the kiss deepened. Who deepened it, they couldn’t tell, but it did. And it turned passionate and fierce. 

Bucky slipped his tongue out of his own mouth onto her bottom lip, wanting to taste more of her. She granted him entrance, wanting the same, and allowed him to dominate the kiss. She was happy regardless, that he finally had his mouth on hers. 

It was as if the whole world slipped away and it was just the two of them. Nothing else mattered in that moment besides them. Kissing each other, touching each other, tasting each other. And it was perfect. 

Breathless, they pulled away and just stared at each other for a long moment while they caught their breath. They both had a sparkle in their eyes that had not previously been there, accompanied by looks of pure adornment and love. 

“WIll you be my girl?” Bucky asked, still a little breathless from their kiss but smirking nonetheless. 

“Of course,” Kennedy breathed out, pulling him in for another kiss. 

Kennedy swung one of her legs over his, straddling him as he sat on the edge of the bed. He tenderly gripped her waist as she slung her arms around his neck, both pulling the other closer. Bucky just wanted her in his arms, and she wanted to be safe in his. 

When they pulled away, Kennedy rested her forehead on his and looked into his eyes for a moment. 

“I love you,” she admitted, finally. It felt good to finally say it, to get something so important off of her chest. And by the looks of it, he was happy too. 

“I love you too, doll. A lot,” Bucky said, leaning up to press a chaste kiss to her swollen lips. 

The rest of the night continued with them holding each other, kissing each other, and telling the other one they loved them. It was blissful. Neither one of them could stop smiling, and their hearts finally felt full. Complete. They had found what they were missing within each other. 

Finally, they had changed out of their fancy clothes and into night clothes and Kennedy crawled into Bucky’s bed. They laid down, facing one another in the darkness, but Kennedy could still see his fierce blue eyes. Home. 

It was quiet when Bucky let out a chuckle. He was playing with Kennedy’s hair, finally free of hairspray, when the thought struck him. 

“What’s so funny?” Kennedy asked quietly, not wanting to disturb the peace they had created within the room. 

“One of us is gonna have to tell Steve,” he said, still chuckling. 

“That’s your job. You’re his best friend,” Kennedy said with a smug smirk, not that he could see it but he knew it was there. 

“Pretty sure you took that place while I was gone,” he argued. In reality, he couldn’t wait to tell Steve. Hell, he was so excited to call Kennedy his girl that he would scream it from the rooftops. 

“We’ll tell him together, then,” Kennedy said, almost matter of factly. And who was Bucky to argue? He’d never say no to her. 

“Sounds like a plan, doll,” Bucky said, placing a loving kiss to her forehead. 

Shortly after, the pair fell back into a comfortable silence, just leaving random touches and kisses of the other’s skin until they were both letting out yawns. They didn’t want the night to end, they wanted to stay in this fairytale forever. 

“Goodnight,” Kennedy said, placing one last kiss on Bucky’s lips before tucking herself into his chest for the night. “I love you, James.”

James. No one had called Bucky that in decades. It brought back old memories, but ones that he found himself smiling over. It was like he was relearning a part of himself, thanks to her. And it was only a plus that he loved the way his name sounded coming from her lips. 

With a smile and kiss to the top of the head, Bucky replied, “I love you too, doll.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm actually really proud of this chapter. It's my longest yet and I've put a lot of work into it. It would mean the world if you left a kudo/comment if you enjoyed!


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after.

The new couple woke up the next morning, still fully wrapped up in each other. Bucky’s eyes had fluttered awake first, and as he took in his surroundings he realized that he had just had a night of fantastic sleep. It was a rare occasion, and he was grateful to Kennedy because he knew she was the reason. Looking down at Kennedy, she seemed to have been fully rested too. 

Currently, Kennedy was still resting on Bucky’s chest, but she was slowly waking up. Her thumb was in her mouth and she was completely wrapped around Bucky, one arm around his neck and her legs locked around his muscular ones. She was definitely going to be one clingy little girl today. 

“Mornin, doll,” Bucky said, his voice hoarse from sleep. 

Kennedy hummed back a goodmorning and once she was more awake, she began to squirm in Bucky’s arms. Bucky, already having spent enough time in little Kennedy’s presence, knew what this was all about immediately. She had to pee. And he didn’t put any protection on her last night before bed. Idiot. 

“Hey, you need to go to the bathroom?” Bucky asked quietly, not wanting to call her out but the matter was pressing enough that he had to do something. 

“Mhm” Kennedy whined back as she crossed her legs, doing a makeshift potty dance while laying down. 

“Then let’s go,” Bucky prompted, swinging his legs out of bed and going towards her side. 

“Sleepy,” Kennedy mumbled as Bucky made his way up her side of the bed. 

“Nu uh, none of that. You slept long enough babygirl. Be a good girl and get up,” Bucky said in an attempt to coax her awake. 

Kennedy’s heart started pounding after he spoke. She would be a bad girl if she didn’t get up, but she really didn’t feel like using the big girl potty today. Some days she was fine, but on days like today, when she needed to be taken care of, she couldn’t deal with it. She had been a big girl yesterday. It often led to tantrums until Steve understood, but she didn’t know how to go about it with Bucky. He clearly thought she was much bigger than she felt, but she didn’t want to disappoint him, so she forced herself up. 

Bucky took her hand when she got up and led her to the bathroom and onto the toilet. Her pants were down by her knees and she just sat there as he went to walk away, giving her some privacy. Her heart was pounding and she felt herself beginning to sweat, this was too much to ask of her today. But she just wanted to be good so desperately. The door shut and Kennedy found herself alone, scared, and really needing to pee. But she couldn’t do it. 

“D-daddy,” she heard herself cry, almost as if it wasn’t from her own mouth at all. Her body's own way of reacting to the stress, even if she wasn’t aware of it. 

In the blink of an eye, Bucky was back in the bathroom, as if he was waiting outside the door the whole time. 

“What’s wrong, doll?” He asked, concern in his eyes. He didn’t know what he did wrong, but clearly it was something if she was sitting in front of him crying. 

“Scared,” Kennedy mumbled. She didn’t want to admit it, she wanted to do as he said, what he brought her in here for, but her brain just wouldn’t let her. 

“Hey, it’s okay. I’m right here. Nothing bad’s gonna happen. I promise. And after we can get you changed and we don’t have to do this again today, okay?” He said, attempting to bargain with her. He was still a little confused, she used the bathroom most days she was little, but clearly not today. It was just one of those days, he figured. 

With his reassurances, Kennedy gave a shaky nod. Despite her nerves, Daddy said it was going to be okay, so it was going to be okay. 

After she did her business, Bucky pulled her pants back up and scooped her up, balancing her on his hip with ease. They made their way to her bedroom to change her into clothes for the day, and once they were in there he placed her on her feet. 

“What do you wanna wear today, doll?” Bucky asked, looking into her closet with her, waiting for her to pick something. He knew she liked to do this, liked to pick out cute clothes to wear, so he was intending on letting her do as she pleased. 

What he hadn’t realized yet was this was only stressing her out more. She didn’t want to make decisions today. She made enough decisions yesterday. Hell, she got herself a boyfriend yesterday. Her big day was catching up with her, and she just wanted to be taken care of. 

She looked into the closet for a brief moment, but all the clothes swirled together in her mind. She just stared, wanting to pick something like he asked, but she couldn’t. 

“Doll?” Bucky asked quietly, wanting to get her attention. 

His words brought her back down to Earth, and she immediately burst into a fresh round of tears, clinging to him desperately. Bucky’s heart broke a little, knowing he messed up again, for the second time that morning, but he could fix this. 

“Shh, it’s okay,” Bucky said in an attempt to quiet her sobs as he rubbed her back. After a few repetitions of that, she finally quieted down, but was still clinging to him as if her life depended on it. “Too big of a decision right now?” Bucky asked once he knew she was calm enough to answer. 

She only nodded, too tired for words right now, hoping he would understand. And he did. It was just one of those days where she wanted to be taken care of in every way. No decisions. He could do that for her. He was still learning, but he’d do his damn best to give her everything she needed. 

“Well, I like this one,” Bucky said, reaching behind her to pull out a dark blue matching set of a t-shirt and shorts. The color reminded him of his Howling Commandos jacket. He also happened to know it was one of her favorites, too. 

He led her to the bed and changed her with ease, putting on a diaper and her clothes in a matter of minutes. He was reminded of the first night he had done this with her. How far they had come from that. There was a lot more love this morning, and much less of a fight. 

Once he was done, he laid down with her and cradled her into his side. “I love you,” he said quietly, placing a kiss to her forehead. 

“I love you too, Daddy,” she said, perking up and placing a quick kiss on his lips. He was surprised for a moment. He didn’t know if she’d want that type of affection in this headspace, but it was good to know. 

“You hungry?” Bucky asked, his hand trailing up and down her arm. 

“Yeah,” Kennedy replied. She didn’t even know what time it was, but she knew her stomach was telling her it was time to eat. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Bucky carried Kennedy into the kitchen, balancing her on his waist with one arm, when they were met with Steve, he was already in the kitchen eating. Judging from his knowledge of the situation, Kennedy was very little and wrapped up in Bucky. Exactly what he assumed would be happening this morning. 

“Morning,” Steve said, taking a sip of his coffee. When he pulled the cup away, Bucky saw the smirk on his face, and immediately gave on back. It was unspoken, but it was Bucky’s way of confirming Steve’s suspicion of how last night had gone. Bucky even forgave him for the locket stunt momentarily, he would find a better time to kick his ass for that. He couldn’t do that with his girl in his arms. 

Knowing Kennedy was oblivious to what was going on around her, Steve turned his attention to her. “Noticed you weren’t in your own bed this morning, Kennie,” Steve said, the hint of teasing evident in his tone. It was routine for him to check on Kennedy in the morning. He knew this morning he wouldn’t have to, knowing she’d be with Bucky, but he did go and check anyway just in case. But, as assumed, she wasn’t there. He just wanted to tease her about it. 

Kennedy hid her face in Bucky’s neck, forcing a chuckle out of both boys. “She probably won’t be, most nights,” Bucky responded for her. Looking down, he saw the blush that was beginning to creep over her face. 

“Oh, why’s that?” Steve asked in mock surprise. Even little, Kennedy knew what they were doing. Purposefully teasing her, trying to get her flustered. She wasn’t upset by it, but it was working. 

They stayed quiet for a moment, wanting to see if she’d respond, but she only pressed herself further into Bucky with a whine. 

Taking that as a resounding no, Bucky replied for her again. “Because, she’ll be sleeping with her boyfriend,” Bucky said, putting emphasis on the last word pride. “Isn’t that right, babygirl?” He asked, directly prompting her now. 

She knew she was expected to respond to that. And she did say they’d tell Steve together, and this was Bucky’s small way of involving her when she was in this headspace. “Yes Daddy,” she replied, but it was muffled by Bucky’s neck. Nevertheless, both of them heard her and laughed a bit. 

“I made waffles,” Steve said after a moment, pointing at the counter where a stack was set. 

“Thank you, we’re starving,” Bucky said, knowing Kennedy had to be just as hungry as he was. One handed, Bucky made a plate for them, knowing Kennedy was going to end up eating off of his anyway as she had done with Steve. 

He sat at the table with Kennedy in his lap, and began cutting up parts of a waffle while she patiently waited to be fed. As he fed her, him and Steve kept up the conversation, mostly about nothing. Kennedy was mostly quiet, piping up here and there or asking Bucky for more, but she was mostly content just being in Bucky’s lap. Content in a way Steve had never seen her before. He smiled fondly, knowing that his two best friends were exactly where they needed to be; with each other. 

Bucky noticed his friend’s quietness and raised his head, one eyebrow raised in a silent question. Steve shook his head, indicating that what he was thinking wasn’t a big deal, but gave Bucky a look that was meant to say ‘she’s all yours now, but I’m here if you need me’. Bucky smiled, understanding the look Steve was giving him. Even after all these years, Bucky could still read Steve like an open book. 

They both looked towards the girl in Bucky’s lap, constantly eating away at the pieces of waffle Bucky had cut up for her and smiled fondly. They were all exactly where they needed to be. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Later in the day, Natasha had found herself in the doorway of the Steve/Kennedy/Bucky residence, hunting for an update from Kennedy about the previous night. 

She knew better than anyone that the two of them adored each other as she had been watching them from afar ever since Bucky began living with them. It had been easy for her to pick up on her best friend's subtle changes around the former assassin, they had known each other for over a decade after all. First it was the change in posture, then the look in her eyes, then the touching, and it just continued to spiral until they finally decided to go on a date. Natasha would have ended up forcing them if they hadn’t done it on their own, it was infuriating to watch two people be so clueless sometimes. Especially two people who had been trained to pick up on the same small cues she had been seeing. 

Bucky’s changes were harder to track as she hadn’t known him for long, but Natasha figured it out quick enough. The fidgeting, playing with his hair, staring at Kennedy for a little too long when she walked into a room. It was blatantly obvious after just a week. 

As Natasha made her way into the apartment, she stumbled upon the one other person in the world who was just as frustrated with the couple as she was, possibly even more: Steve. 

“If you’re looking for Kennedy, she’s a little busy right now,” Steve said, not even looking up from the newspaper balanced on his lap. He was sitting on the couch, legs perched on the coffee table, not a care in the world. 

“Care to share why?” Natasha asked, plopping down into the spot next to Steve. He looked up at her and saw the look in her eyes. She already knew exactly why. They really both knew their friends like the back on their hands, despite their changes over the years. 

“You know why,” Steve said with a smirk, confirming her already confirmed suspicion. 

“So Barnes finally grew the balls to ask her?” Natasha asked, laughing lightly as she raised her feet onto the coffee table to mimic Steve. 

“I don’t really know what happened,” Steve admitted. He hadn’t gotten the full story over breakfast. He’d just wait to pry until him and Bucky were alone. “But they came to breakfast this morning as ‘boyfriend and girlfriend’,” Steve explained, putting air quotes around the label. 

“Well at least we don’t have to deal with them being stupid anymore,” Natasha said. 

“Oh, they’re still stupid. And we’ll most likely still have to deal with it. But they’re happy so I’m happy to deal with it,” Steve said with a chuckle. 

“Where are they now?” 

“Bucky’s room, doing ‘couple stuff’ I assume,” Steve said, pointing towards Bucky’s room and using air quotes once more. 

“Couple stuff? That’s fast,” Natasha commented. 

Steve blushed lightly at the thought of it. Even after so many years in the present, he still didn’t know quite how to talk about it so openly. “Not that, at least I don’t think so. She’s pretty little right now, so I doubt that would be happening. But who the hell knows anymore?” Steve explained. 

“Ah,” Natasha said in understanding. “Well, if they ever do end up doing ‘couple stuff’ as you like to call it, and fair warning they will so don’t be all shocked, you’re more than welcome to come hang out with me whenever.” 

“Nat, don’t act like I’m such a prude,” Steve argued. 

“Well then don’t act like one, Grampa,” Natasha giggled. 

“I don’t!” Steve exclaimed. “Plus, if you ever experience me in bed you’ll know I’m not,” Steve said suggestively. 

“Is that an invitation, Cap?” Natasha asked, raising an eyebrow at him. 

Steve just laughed and shook his head at the situation. Did he really just say that? It must have been from all the love in the air. 

~~~~~~~~~~

The rest of the day had gone normally with Bucky and Kennedy in his room, doing whatever couples do, and Natasha and Steve in the living room, doing whatever flirtatious maybe friends do. 

The four of them had dinner together, and even though Kennedy was still in little space, Natasha managed to pull some answers out of her as only Natasha does best. Steve had been grateful for her on Kennedy’s worst days, seeing as one of the only people Kennedy would openly talk to most of the time was Natasha. Maybe that would change now that she was with Bucky. Maybe a lot of things would change. But maybe it was all for the better. 

Dinner was eaten and the kitchen was cleaned, and everyone went their separate ways. Bucky had dragged Kennedy off for a bath which was not an easy task. She managed to get food all over herself during dinner, but she whined and complained the whole time Bucky was trying to coax her out of the kitchen. Bucky ended up settling on just slinging her over his shoulder and walking down the hall, even as she pounded her little fists against his back. Steve laughed at that, knowing bath time was rarely easy to begin with, but silently commended Bucky for not falling for the puppy dog eyes so easily. He’d be just fine taking care of her. 

Natasha had retreated back downstairs to her own apartment, exiting with a suggestive wink at Steve. That only left Steve, and he settled on watching a movie tonight, knowing he had to be up early the next day at SHIELD anyway. 

Halfway through the movie he heard Bucky emerge from the hallway. The footsteps were too loud to be Kennedy. It was a miracle Steve had heard him at all. Most days, even without meaning to, Bucky was stealth mode. All the years of being a silent assassin had stuck with him in that regard, so he rarely made noise around the apartment. 

“Bath time go okay?” Steve asked once Bucky fully entered the living room and was in eyesight. 

“Yeah, she was fine once she got in,” Bucky said with a smile. “Please tell me it’s not like that all the time though. That was brutal.” 

Steve just laughed, knowing Bucky had never dealt with Kennedy on full blast yet. Most days she was fine. Happy, talkative, compliant. But there were other days that Steve could only describe her as a terror. Tantrums, screaming, crying, not talking. But he knew Bucky could handle it. He loved the girl, so he’d take her at her worst. 

“Almost,” Steve admitted, chucking. “What did you bribe her with?” 

“How the hell?” Bucky asked quietly, wondering how Steve had even known that he had in fact bribed Kennedy to get into the bath. 

“I guess I should have warned you about that one. It’s easier to do almost anything she tries to fight you on with a bribe. Especially bathtime. It’s not the best set up, but it works. Just don’t give her too many cookies,” Steve said. 

“Again, what the fuck?” Bucky asked, joining Steve on the couch. Bucky had bribed Kennedy with cookies. How in the hell did Steve know. 

“That’s usually what she wants every time. Two should do the trick,” Steve instructed. 

“You’re really something else,” Bucky said with a laugh, shaking his head. 

“Buck, I’m always here to help you with her. I’ve been doing this for a while, so I know some things. It’s okay to ask for her with her,” Steve said gently. He didn’t want to make Bucky feel incompentent at taking care of Kennedy, because he wasn’t, but he was bound to need some help eventually. Steve sure wished he had help some days. 

“I know, thank you,” Bucky replied, not offended in the slightest. He knew he’d need help, too. He was still trying to figure out his own life, let alone Kennedy’s. It was a huge learning curve, and he truly appreciated all of Steve’s help. But he still had a bone to pick with him. “Also, what the fuck was that stunt with the locket?” Bucky asked, raising his eyebrows at his friend. 

Steve knew this was coming eventually. He knew he wouldn’t just get away with it. At least not with Bucky. “Shut up, it didn’t change anything. Besides, she’s wearing it so I take it my ‘stunt’ worked out,” Steve teased. 

“Doesn’t change the fact,” Bucky argued. “But, yeah, she hasn’t taken it off since last night. Not even in the bath. She refused. So thanks, I guess, but you’re still a little shit,” Bucky said, pushing Steve’s shoulder. 

“You’re welcome,” Steve said, purposefully ignoring his friend's arguments towards him. 

The boys laughed and then sat in silence for a moment, the movie still playing in the background, now ignored. But even over the movie, they both heard the light pitter patter of Kennedy’s feet walking down the hallway. 

“Daadddyyyy,” Kennedy whined as her figure began to appear in the frame of the hallway. 

“What’s up doll?” Bucky asked, turning his body to face her. 

“Cookies,” she said, a grumpy face evident as she crossed her arms. She looked as childlike as ever. Throwing a hissy fit like a toddler, one of Bucky’s shirts on her that fit her like a dress, and a diaper to top it all off. But nevertheless, neither of them batted an eye at her appearance. If anything, the both chuckled at her behavior. She really was a grump when it came to bathtime. 

“Sorry, doll. I was just talking to Steve,” Bucky said, walking up to her and tucked a strand on still wet hair behind her air and out of her face. 

“But you said cookies,” Kennedy said in an attempt to argue. 

“I know, I was getting those too,” Bucky laughed. “And what did I say about whining earlier?” 

“No whining,” Kennedy replied with a pout, putting her head down so she didn’t have to look at her Daddy when she repeated her offense. 

No whining? Steve would truly be impressed if Bucky could pull that off. Kennedy always whined. 

“Good, just try to remember that, okay?” Bucky asked her. 

“Yes Daddy, just really wanted cookies. Sowwy,” Kennedy said, now leaning into Bucky’s body in a poor attempt to hide her face. 

“It’s okay, doll. Now let’s go get you some cookies,” Bucky said, hoisting Kennedy up so she was once more balanced on his hip and he began to enter the kitchen. 

“And then cuddles?” Kennedy asked, hopeful. 

“Of course, babygirl. And then cuddles,” Bucky confirmed with a smile, as happy as he could ever be with this perfect girl in his arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm done!!! Feel free to let me know if you want anything added, I'm more than happy to continue to write about Kennedy and Bucky (and potentially Steve and Natasha?). As always, feel free to leave a kudos and a comment! 
> 
> If you read to the very end, thank you so much! I loved writing this (it was more of a self service than anything)! 
> 
> I'll be posting more Bucky (and probably Steve) content in the near future! 
> 
> Also also, I'm beginning to plan a Tony's Daughter x Bucky fanfic, so let me know if you're interested in that. I know it's an overdone trope, but I've never seen it done the way I wanted it done, so I wanna take a stab at it!

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! Feel free to comment/kudos to let me know you liked it!


End file.
